


This Glass House

by BabyPowderLou



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha Harry Styles, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Military, American Harry Styles, American Louis Tomlinson, Bottom Louis, Bottom Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles Calls Louis Tomlinson Pet Names, Harry Styles Loves Louis Tomlinson, Harry is in the Air Force, Hurt Harry Styles, Hurt/Comfort, Louis Tomlinson Loves Harry Styles, M/M, Mommy Louis, Omega Louis, Omega Louis Tomlinson, Parent Harry Styles, Parent Louis Tomlinson, Parents Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Top Harry, Top Harry Styles, louis styles - Freeform, they have 5 kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:29:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 43,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27778408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyPowderLou/pseuds/BabyPowderLou
Summary: While deployed, Alpha Harry gets injured by an IED explosion, leaving him to deal with severe injuries in its devastating aftermath. During his road to acceptance and recovery he learns with the help of Louis and their children just how important family can be for the mind, body, and soul.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 71
Kudos: 343
Collections: Bottom Louis Fic Fest 2020





	This Glass House

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** The only other time that I've ever written a creative writing piece was for an English assignment during my freshman year in high school. Which was like seven years ago. So, if the flow of things feels off while you're reading this - that's probably why. Also, you may notice that there are some elements in this story that's based on real life, but this is a work of fiction so please don't take it too seriously. :D  
> ****  
> Thank you to the lovely individual who submitted this wonderful prompt. This one's for you!  
> ****  
> Beautiful commissioned artwork by the talented **[youreyesonlarry](https://youreyesonlarry.tumblr.com/)**  
>  ****  
>  **[Tumblr Post](https://compactblue.tumblr.com/post/637146673955717120/this-glass-house-rating-mature-word-count-42k)** | **[Twitter Post](https://twitter.com/princessbluelou/status/1337124970493849602)**

_“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.”_

—Caroline Myss  
  
  


***

  
  
Louis was aroused from his peaceful slumber by feather light kisses being pressed into the soft skin along the right side of his face. In an attempt to escape the ticklish feeling, he turned and pushed himself further into his pillow, trying to suppress a smile. 

“Good morning, my beautiful omega,” Harry gently rumbled, as not to startle his sleepy spouse.

“Morning, Alpha,” Louis murmured, voice slightly muffled by the plush pillow. 

“It’s time to get up, my love.”

“Mm, but I was sleeping _so_ good,” the omega softly whined, much to the amusement of his alpha.

Some silent seconds progressed before Louis rolled onto his back, eyes still closed. Harry bracketed the tired omega in with his muscular arms and continued to land soft kisses to his beloved’s sweet face. The alpha thought it was adorable how Louis would wrinkle his nose every time he placed his lips on the boopable feature. 

“Open up and let me see those gorgeous eyes, pretty Omega.” 

Louis silently yawned, bleary eyes slowly blinking open. His compact chest briefly brushed against Harry’s as his back arched off the bed, joints popping as his slender arms extended above his head in a satisfying stretch. A gentle smile made its way onto the alpha’s face at the cute display beneath him, having to slightly dodge the omega’s movements to avoid getting smacked in the face.

“Ah, there they are. The most beautiful blue eyes in the _entire_ universe.”

“The entire universe, huh?”

“Oh yes, and the most _divine_ being to ever grace Mother Earth. The goddess Aphrodite seethes with envy at your beauty.” He grinned down at his unimpressed mate, alpha canines proudly on display. 

Louis playfully rolled his eyes, but shot his husband an amused, albeit sleepy, smile. “You’re so corny, Alpha.” 

He sniffed twice, senses finally awakened. “ _Ew,_ and you stink too. Please go shower.” His face contorted into one of disgust, holding a finger beneath his nostrils to block out the pervasive smell. 

Harry sniffed one of his armpits and shrugged. He knew he didn’t smell the greatest—he had just completed an intense three mile run ten minutes prior. 

However, being sweaty and a little smelly hadn’t deterred the alpha from bounding into bed with his exquisite mate. Every time he completed a rigorous workout, the last remnants of his energy went towards wanting to stuff his cock inside a warm, tight hole. And with a mate that looked as delectable as his, the alpha couldn’t be faulted for desiring to bury himself where his omega was most sensitive.

  
  


Harry nuzzled into the side of Louis’ smooth neck, making the omega giggle at the feeling of his prickly stubble, and inhaled the satisfying scent that flowed from his gland. The sweet smell of apples pervaded the air in small amounts with each jump of the omega’s pulse. 

“Mm, well I think you smell _delicious,_ Omega.” Harry groaned, rolling his hips in a deep steady rhythm onto the dainty body beneath him. He licked then placed a swift kiss to Louis’ pulse point before proceeding to do the same on the other side of the omega’s neck. 

Louis softly bit onto his lower lip, holding off a smile. Amused at how his scent never failed to get his husband worked up. 

“Alpha, if you’re going to hump me at least do it without the covers between us.” 

A surprised laugh erupted from the pretty omega when his mate immediately wrenched the gray and white duvet from his body. Harry gripped his large, calloused hands under Louis’ knees and brought them towards the omega’s chest before gently prying them apart. 

Louis moaned at the slight burning sensation brought on by his inner thighs being stretched, smoothly wrapping his arms around Harry’s neck when he dipped his head to lightly brush his lips against Louis'.

Harry maneuvered his mate's legs to rest against either side of his broad shoulders, lowering his upper body to press down onto his small spouse. Louis let out a quiet gasp at the solid weight of his alpha pushing him further into the mattress. 

He loved when his body was weighed down by any part of his husband’s bulk. Be it a thick tan arm placed around his shoulders, or a heavy hand set on the back of his head forcing his tear stained face further into a pillow as he’s brutally rammed from behind. It never ceased to make him feel three things: grounded, protected, and secure.

“Hi,” Louis whispered up to his husband. His baby blues went a little cross at the close proximity of Harry’s face. 

“Hey, morning breath,” Harry whispered back, lips pressing into a thin line, trying hard to hold in a laugh at the offended look on his mate’s face. 

Louis' eyes widened, instantly cupping a hand to his mouth to smell his breath. He didn’t know what his alpha was talking about. Sure his breath smelled a little stale—his mouth having been closed for seven hours—but it didn’t reek. 

“My breath doesn’t stink.” Louis frowned up at his mate. “Plus, I brushed my teeth last night.”

“But did you brush your gums? Your tongue?” the alpha questioned with a raised brow.

“Pretty sure I did.”

“Did you use mouthwash? Floss?”

“Always.”

“Hmmmm, are you sure Omega?” Harry squinted down at his vexed spouse.

“Shut up.” Louis huffed, small ears reddening from his mate’s teasing. 

  
  


The alpha finally allowed a dimpled grin to morph onto his handsome face after admiring the faint blush coloring Louis' cheeks. “I’m just playing, Lou.” He soothed his pouting omega with a quick peck to his pink lips, feeling his mate’s slight irritation through their shared bond. “You know I like messin' with you.” 

“You’re so annoying, Alpha,” Louis playfully sassed with an eye roll.

Harry couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped past his lips. His omega was just so endearing when he pretended to be upset. “Okay, I’m sorry my love.” He softly pressed his lips against Louis’, smiling at the soft hum his mate emitted.

Louis gently sighed when Harry pulled back from their kiss. “I guess you’re forgiven.” He paused his words to glance down, then up at his alpha through delicate lashes. “My stinky alpha.” 

“Yeah?” Harry quietly asked, moving to rest his forehead against his spouse's smaller one. 

“Yeah.” 

Louis tilted his chin up slightly, eyes squeezed shut, plush lips puckered up as if awaiting a kiss. 

Harry lifted his curly brown head to grin down at his mate, amused at his antics. The omega squinted one eye open to see what was taking his mate so long to kiss him, but swiftly shut it after he noticed his alpha focusing on him. Harry was a bit daft at times, but he knew how to take a hint. Especially the obvious one displayed before him.

He shook his head and chuckled, but leaned down to place quick pecks to his mate’s petal soft lips. Dainty hands securely gripped onto the alpha’s hair and tugged him closer to prevent him from moving away. The omega would never admit it, but he was just as greedy for his alpha as his alpha was for him. 

Their heads tilted, deepening the kiss as their mouths gradually opened against one another’s, moving smoothly together at an unrushed pace. 

Harry took the opportunity to gently tongue into his mate’s warm, enticing mouth. Louis softly moaned at the feeling of his smaller tongue languidly sliding against his husband’s larger one. 

The alpha’s nostrils flared when the sweet scent of his spouse’s arousal flowed to his sensitive olfactory nerves. 

_“Omega,”_ Harry growled against Louis’ spit slick lips. “Smell so sweet.” 

He could feel the stretch of his pupils dilating as he inhaled more of the intoxicating pheromones and ducked his head to continue hungrily tonguing into his mate’s panting mouth. 

Louis gasped for air when Harry leaned back, a thin string of saliva linked between their bottom lips. 

The omega’s face was tinted with a light shade of pink, chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm as he tried to control his labored breaths. His own pupils dilated, slick starting to leak from his hole at the strong scent of his alpha’s arousal.

_“Alpha.”_ Louis threw his head back in a breathy moan when Harry positioned himself onto his knees to firmly grind his clothed cock onto the damp spot between his omega’s legs. 

“Fuck,” Harry grunted out, looking down into Louis’ lust filled eyes. The alpha tightly gripped the hairless legs that rested against his firm shoulders and roughly bucked his hips several times, knocking the sweetest sounds out of his heavenly mate.

“Damn, want to fuck you.” He gave a quick shake of his head when he felt the feral side of his alpha start to invade his domesticated psyche. The wild side that he only permitted to completely overtake his mind when deep in rut. The savage side that ceaselessly chanted _—claim, mate, breed._

“My pretty, _perfect_ omega,” Harry groaned as he tilted his head back, continuing to firmly grind onto Louis. “Can I fuck you? Hm, baby? Will you let your alpha get inside of you?” 

Louis turned his head to the right, squinting at the white LED numbers displayed on the digital clock set atop the gray nightstand. 6:10 a.m. it read. They didn’t even have enough time for a quick fuck. 

“We don’t _— shit —_ we don’t have enough time, Alpha.” The omega panted out. His mind went a little fuzzy at the feeling of his husband’s big dick grinding against his clothed hole.

“Please, Omega? I’ll be quick. I promise.” Harry begged down to his alluring mate. He tried to pull a sad puppy dog face, but it ended up looking more demonic as his pupils almost took over the entire iris of his eyes. Only a tenuous ring of green could be seen around the onyx circles. 

“Just let me stick it in a little, yeah?” Harry removed a hand that gripped one of Louis’ legs and wiggled it between the place where their bodies intimately touched, pressing a thumb firmly against the soaked spot on his omega’s yellow satin shorts.

“Damn it, Harry!” Louis tried to control the volume of his voice when he felt Harry jab a thumb into his wet entrance. The cloth of his shorts provided little resistance against the intrusion. 

Harry smirked at Louis’ outburst, knowing that his stubborn mate’s resolve always crumbled when his pretty hole was played with. 

  
  


“Want to eat you out. Get my tongue inside of you, Lou.” The alpha bit onto his bottom lip as he tilted his head to the side, transfixed at the way Louis tightly clenched around his thumb. 

“Lovely Omega, let me get some part of myself inside of you besides my fingers.”

Louis crossed his arms over his eyes, cursing at the feeling of his husband’s thumb pushing the cloth of his satin shorts further into his body. The omega could admit that he turned into an absolute slut when a thick tongue or long fingers teased his tight hole, and he wasn’t ashamed about that fact in the slightest. 

The smell of Harry’s heady scent combined with his insistent begging and erotic touch had Louis ready to throw caution to the wind and say _fuck it._ The alpha’s fiery desire surging through their bond only assisted with deteriorating the omega’s self-control. 

Taking a deep breath, Louis gathered the last crumbs of his willpower to try and suggest an alternative to his horny husband.

“Look, I’m not going to let you fuck or eat me out right now.” His cerulean eyes rolled at the wounded sound his alpha let out. 

“But—” Louis paused to fix Harry with a pointed look. His heart pumped a little faster at the way Harry’s dilated pupils intensely focused on him. It was as if Harry was the hungry predator and Louis was his delicious prey. 

“I’ll let you fuck my mo— _hey,_ be careful!” Louis huffed as his legs were shoved off his husband’s toned shoulders. 

“Sorry, babe,” Harry apologized, not sounding the least bit remorseful. 

The alpha planted his knees on either side of his mate’s lean body, shuffling up until he was positioned above his omega’s upper chest. Louis promptly lifted his head from his pillow to nose into the side of Harry’s clothed bulge, deeply inhaling his mate’s musky pine scent. 

“I thought you said I stink, Omega?” the alpha asked with a smug look. 

“Changed my mind, Alpha. I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I?” Louis mumbled, mouthing along the shape of Harry’s impressive alpha cock. 

“Fuck, baby. You can do whatever you want.” Harry’s hips jerked forward when Louis gently bit onto the outline of his dick through his yellow basketball shorts. 

“Hm, that’s what I thought.” Louis smiled up at his mate, pulling down the front of his shorts to rest underneath his heavy balls. 

Harry’s powerful pheromones filled Louis’ nose as soon as his cock sprung free from the confines of his shorts, slapping against his firm stomach. The aroma of the alpha’s arousal was so strong that the omega had to breathe through his mouth, his hole clenching to try and stop the sudden rush of slick from leaking through his shorts and onto the sheets.

Louis licked his pink lips at the sight of Harry’s cock and lightly circled the tip of his middle finger around the sensitive head.

“Omega, stop teasing,” the alpha groaned, thrusting his hips forward.

“Whoa _, watch it,_ you almost poked my eye out with that thing.”

“And what a shame that would have been,” Harry gritted out. The wooden headboard had started to crack beneath the pressure of his tensed grip. “But you can still suck my dick without an eye.”

Louis simply hummed at his husband’s comment and went back to running his finger around the flushed head of his cock, gently tapping the alpha’s slit to try and coax out more of the clear precum. He sucked the tip of his finger into his mouth, moaning as his baby blues rolled into the back of his head at the taste of his mate on his tongue. 

“Come on, sweetheart. Don’t make your alpha suffer.” 

Louis coquettishly blinked up at Harry, giving a quick kiss to the glistening head of his cock. The sight reminded Harry of the images he’d seen as a teenager in the adult magazines he used to steal from his dad’s collection. He would hide some of them underneath his mattress, only bringing them out when his bedroom door was securely locked or in the middle of the night, trying to stifle his grunts as he jerked off to the erotic pictures of the attractive omegas. 

“I’m just having a bit of fun.” Louis coyly peered up at Harry through his long lashes, his small hand unable to wrap fully around his mate’s thick girth. 

The alpha let out a loud moan at the feeling of his omega’s pink wet tongue licking the head of his aching cock. 

“That’s it, baby. Love you so much. No other omega was made for me except for you. My lovely _omega._ My beautiful sweet spouse. My _mate._ Never gonna let you go. You’re stuck with me forever.” 

The omega giggled at his alpha’s ridiculous babbling. His husband always seemed to word vomit whenever he was about to get his dick sucked. 

Louis had just slid the tip of Harry’s cock into his mouth, being mindful of his smaller, yet sharp canines, when a shrill cry pierced through the room. 

“Fuck, no. This can’t be happening,” Harry groaned out, shaking his head in disbelief. 

Louis slapped his alpha’s meaty thigh. “Don’t be like that.” He reached over to grab the white baby monitor from the nightstand, switching the audio on so that his voice could filter through on the other side.

“Good morning, my precious baby. Please don’t cry, love. Mommy will be there in a few minutes.” Louis motioned for Harry to move back as he tried to calm his upset three month old.

The exasperated alpha grumbled while he tucked himself back into his basketball shorts, shaking the bed as he flopped onto his back next to his nurturing mate. 

“You're okay, baby boy. You’re alright.” Louis sat up, reaching over to the nightstand to grab a second monitor with a screen that displayed his child’s entire room. He continued gently talking into the audio monitor until his pup’s loud cries turned into soft whimpers, switching the sound off on his end once he’d made sure his little one was at ease. 

“Alright, Noah is calm for now, but I’m gonna go check on him. He probably needs his diaper changed,” the omega announced as he pushed off the bed. 

He walked to the dark gray ottoman set against the foot of the bed where his yellow robe rested. Harry’s eyes tracked his omega’s movements like a hawk, watching as Louis smoothly slid on the satin robe that matched his pyjamas, deftly tying the straps into a loose bow. 

“I was being serious about you stinking though,” Louis said as he slid his feet into a pair of fuzzy yellow slippers, walking into the ensuite bathroom. 

“You said you changed your mind, Omega,” Harry called out.

“Well I changed my mind _again,_ Alpha,” Louis cheekily replied. 

Harry grunted in lieu of a proper comeback, throwing a heavy arm over his eyes, silently grieving the missed opportunity of almost getting his dick sucked by the world’s greatest, in his humble opinion. 

Louis rolled his eyes at the sight of his moping alpha after he returned from freshening up. He could feel Harry’s disappointment through their bond. 

“I’ll come join you in the shower after I’ve taken care of Noah,” the omega stated on his way to the bedroom door. He stopped to look over his shoulder at his sulking husband once his manicured hand touched the silver doorknob. “And _maybe_ we can finish what we started.”

“Yeah?” Harry asked in a hopeful tone, lifting the arm that covered his eyes.

“Yeah.” Louis nodded with a small smile.

The omega quietly laughed at the way his alpha scrambled off the bed to dart into the bathroom. “I’ll make sure to keep the water warm for you, Omega!” 

Louis shook his head, making his way out the door and down the spacious hallway to the nursery. He didn’t know why the universe had paired him with such a goofy alpha, but he was happy that it had.

  
  
***

  
Eight-year-old Claire stared across the white kitchen table as her youngest sister dropped bits of her breakfast onto the tan rug below. Her green eyes squinted, observing how the two-year-old would grab and clumsily shove a pancake piece into her mouth, before looking over the side of her high chair to toss another sticky piece below with a giggle.

Claire had a hunch about the reason behind her sister’s mischievous behavior, and her suspicions were quickly confirmed when she peeked her brunette head underneath the table. 

She turned in her chair to face her mother, watching as he used a sharp knife to expertly chop cantaloupe onto the maple cutting board. “Mom,” she hissed to get her mother's attention.

“Hm?” Louis hummed to let his daughter know that he was listening, continuing to keep his eyes on the fruit he was chopping. 

“Mom—Mom look.” Claire persisted, trying to gain her mother’s focus. 

He gave her his undivided attention once all of the cantaloupe was diced. Claire comically widened her eyes, tilting her head with a jerk towards her sister sitting across from her.

Louis chuckled at the look on his eldest daughter’s face, moving his eyes in the direction of her inclined head until they landed on his youngest daughter. He saw her drop a pancake piece over the side of her high chair, clapping her little hands at the amusing sight below her. 

He rocked up onto the balls of his feet, white granite countertop pushing against his stomach, leaning over to get a better view at the ground below his two-year-old. He noticed a tan tail peeking out from the side of the kitchen table, confirming what he already suspected.

Louis moved his blue eyes to lock onto Claire’s green ones, nodding his head to silently let her know that he’ll take care of the situation. Satisfied, she turned back around in her chair and continued to eat her breakfast.

Claire was Louis and Harry’s most obedient offspring, sometimes to a fault. As the oldest, she wanted to lead by example, as she knew that her younger sisters looked up to her. She was a soft spoken child, rarely raising her voice. She cleaned up after herself, completed her homework before going off to play, and never argued back when told to do something. 

She constantly wanted to let her parents know—though it was mostly Louis—when her sisters were doing something that they weren’t supposed to. To Harry’s annoyance, she would relay to them everything her siblings did that she deemed naughty. However, the tattling ultimately slowed down after her mother patiently explained that she should try to talk to her sisters about their misbehavior before immediately coming to him or her father, unless it was for something serious.

Over the years, strangers would often come up to Louis and/or Harry when out in public and praise them on raising such a good little omega. Louis would simply smile and quietly thank them, but Harry scoffed at the implication behind such comments, trying to keep himself from blurting out, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” As if the only reason she’s considered a good child is due to her fitting into what society had deemed an omega should be. 

Truthfully, Louis already knew that his youngest daughter was feeding the dog her food. He had glanced up earlier to see what she found so amusing, being the only one at the table with the giggles. It didn’t take a detective to piece together the evidence.

He and his alpha had told the children not to give any of the dogs their food after discovering how they would sneakily scrape off the unwanted, coincidently healthy, portion of their meal into the dog bowls and onto the floor.

He initially wasn’t going to say anything, letting the incident slide, but having an observant daughter like Claire—who revered him as always doing the right thing—he supposed he had to set a good example. 

With a sigh, he lifted the heavy cutting board to slide the cantaloupe into a large red bowl off to his left. 

“Grace Katherine,” Louis softly called out from where he stood at the rectangular island in the middle of the kitchen. He watched in amusement as his toddler’s eyes widened at hearing her mother use her first and middle name, quickly shoving the pancake piece she was about to drop into her mouth. 

The dog whined from his spot below at not receiving the expected syrupy treat. “What are you doing?” Louis questioned, raising a perfectly arched brow. Most parents would expect their child to try and deny any misbehavior on their part when queried. His two-year-old didn’t seem to know how to tell a lie, _yet,_ which he considered to be a good thing. 

Grace grinned at her mother, showing off her baby teeth. “I give Peanut pancakes,” she proudly stated. 

“Are you supposed to be feeding Peanut your food?” Louis asked, moving to the kitchen sink to place the knife and cutting board into the hot, soapy water.

Grace thought about it for a moment before she shook her head no, little pigtails swinging with the motion. 

“No, right?” Louis said, stepping onto a black stool to open one of the upper, white cabinets, reaching in to take out a box of Saran Wrap. “So, is there a reason why you're giving Peanut your food when you know you’re not supposed to?” 

The toddler took no time to think about her answer. “Pancakes make Peanut happy. I give Peanut pancakes to make him happy.” She nodded to herself, thinking her mother would be satisfied with that answer.

“That’s very kind of you sweetpea, but your father and I have told you, and your sisters, that you are not allowed to give the dogs your food,” he reminded her, tearing off a length of the plastic wrap to cover the top of the red bowl, pushing it aside to properly store later. 

Louis let out a swift whistle, gaining the greedy dog’s attention. “Peanut, bed,” Louis commanded, pointing to the tan donut shaped dog bed placed in the far corner of the room, watching as Peanut trotted over and nestled into it’s calming shag, vegan fur. He tore a single sheet from the roll of paper towels held in place by the stainless steel holder, turning on the kitchen faucet and wetting it before firmly squeezing the excess water out. 

“That goes for everyone. Do not feed the dogs your food. Do we all understand?” The omega walked over to the kitchen table where all four of his daughters sat, looking into each set of green eyes as they nodded their heads, continuing to eat their breakfast. 

Louis’ cheeks puffed out, slowly exhaling through his nose. He was grateful that none of his girls seemed to be upset with him. Even though he ensured that his voice stayed calm and gentle when delivering his scoldings there was always room for someone to feel like they were being singled out. 

He tended to shy away from confrontation, even when it came to his own children. The omega preferred when his alpha was the one who dished out the punishments, loathing the dejected looks and crocodile tears presented on his pups’ faces. 

_“You just want me to be the bad guy, huh?”_ Harry had jokingly said to his mate one day. 

Louis had simply shrugged, shooting an innocent grin towards his alpha. _Yes, I do._ He’d thought to himself.

Luckily, punishments were few and far between, as their daughters were well behaved the majority of the time. 

Louis walked over to Grace, squatting down next to her high chair as he used the damp paper towel to wipe off the sticky syrup from her button nose and chubby cheeks. “You’re one messy eater, little miss,” he stated fondly, trying to get some syrup out of her bangs. 

“Mommy want pancake?” She smiled, offering up a soggy piece to her mother. 

Not wanting to be rude, Louis tried to hide his grimace as he took a miniscule bite with the edge of his teeth. “Mm, that was delicious! Thank you for sharing with me! Now, you eat the rest of your food. Okay, sweet girl?” He smacked a kiss onto her freshly cleaned cheek, hearing his three eldest giggle at his exaggerated reaction. 

“Okay, Mommy,” she happily replied, going back to humming a nursery rhyme and clumsily shoving food into her mouth. 

The omega winced as he slowly stood, knees popping from his prolonged squat. At twenty-eight, he was already starting to feel the bodily aches and pains that were the effects of getting older. Louis was four years Harry’s junior, but that didn’t stop the alpha from teasing him about getting older whenever he complained about having achy bones. 

Breakfast continued on peacefully, the girls quietly conversing with one another as Louis went back to cleaning up the kitchen. 

The sound of heavy boots hitting the floor could be heard steadily approaching the kitchen, before coming to an abrupt halt in the entryway. “Good morning, everyone!” Harry cheerfully called out, his loud voice disrupting the calm that had settled over the room. 

His daughters greeted him with far less enthusiasm, not feeling very eager for the school day ahead of them. 

If anyone in the Styles household could be called a morning person it would definitely be Harry. Most days the alpha tended to wake up before sunrise, in the early hours of the a.m. when the moon still hung high in the sky. 

He liked to complete his workouts in the morning before work, as he felt more energized and ready to take on the day. He also found that he was much more productive in the mornings, wanting to get things done early, so that he had more time to relax and spend time with his family in the evenings. 

That being said, Harry hadn't always had the early bird mentality. The alpha used to hate waking up early, especially during his last two years of high school. 

After the air horn, cymbals, and various audio recordings of sirens had failed to wake Harry for school, his father had taken it upon himself one morning to dump a cooler filled with freezing water and ice onto his snoring son. Afterwards, his dad had made a promise to him that he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if he didn’t get his ass out of bed. 

Hearing that was all the motivation a dumbstruck Harry had needed to get moving, as the older alpha always delivered on his promises. 

Nevertheless, Harry hadn’t truly had a change of heart about early mornings—or a lot of other things—until he'd joined the military. 

He hadn’t known what he wanted to do after high school, as he couldn’t see himself wanting to pursue higher education, nor had he wanted to work a dead end job at his father’s mechanic shop. 

He'd gotten to talking with one of his close friends, Cody, who had graduated high school the year prior. His alpha friend had joined the Marines on the active duty side and Harry had wanted to know more about his military experience. 

Cody hadn’t bullshitted Harry and had told him straight up about the pros and cons of joining the Marines. After doing some more research on his own, Harry had been convinced that the Marine Corps was the branch of service for him. 

He'd had a nice chat with the Marine recruiters and walked out of their office feeling good about his decision. 

That same night, as they’d sat in the living room watching TV, he'd told his old man about his plans to enlist. Harry’s father hadn’t had any qualms about his only child joining the military, as he himself had served in the Army for four years, but he had wanted to make sure that Harry was certain about his selection.

“Ya sure you wanna be a Jarhead, H?” his father had joked. 

“Yeah, I talked to Cody about it and did my research, so I’m sure.” Harry had replied, not taking his eyes off the old box TV in front of him. 

“Have you looked into any of the other branches, talked to their recruiters to see if maybe they would be of interest?” His father had glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, gauging his son's reaction. 

Harry quickly remembered briefly skimming through the descriptions for the other military services, but having his mind set on joining the Marines, he hadn’t cared to do any further exploration. “Nah, don’t need to. I know what I wanna do.” 

His father had turned his head towards him, fixing him with a pointed look. “Oh, really? Well, I’ve got two words for you son. _Air. Force.”_

Harry had looked at his father from his spot on the opposite end of the couch, frown etched onto his face. “Air Force?” 

“Air Force,” his father had simply stated, nodding his head. “Just look into it. You never know.” 

Later that night, Harry had booted up his Dell Dimension 2100, scrolling through articles and reading various message boards about the Air Force and what they had to offer. He hadn’t been fully converted with the idea of becoming an Airman until he'd talked with one of the recruiters two days later. Funnily enough, the Air Force shared their recruiting office with the Navy and even the Navy recruiters had told Harry that joining the Air Force was the way to go.

He hadn’t needed any further convincing, and two weeks later he'd found himself at the nearest Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) in Tucson, Arizona taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test. 

He had mentioned to Technical Sergeant Ruiz, his alpha recruiter, that he was interested in the Pararescue specialty field, as it was an extremely intense and often dangerous job that required the individual to be in supreme physical condition, which was what Harry was all about. 

He’d rather not sit behind a desk for nine hours a day. Instead, he'd wanted to be out in the field where all of the action awaited him, making a difference and saving lives. TSgt Ruiz told the bright eyed alpha that it was a specialty that you had to volunteer for, and that if he was really serious about joining, to list it as his number one choice on his job sheet. 

Three months prior to his high school graduation, the eighteen-year-old alpha had found himself back at the MEPS, taking the oath of enlistment alongside his fellow servicemen and officially enlisted into the United States Air Force. 

His father had stood off to the side with the other parents, family, and friends, recording the moment to send to Harry’s mother. He'd clapped Harry firmly on the back afterwards with a smug look on his face. “M'proud of you, son.” 

Harry had stood a little taller, chest puffing out at his father's praise. He’d been chuffed that the most important alpha in his life was proud of his accomplishment. 

Two months after graduation, Harry’d been shipped off to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The training had lasted eight and a half weeks, before everyone was sent to different parts of the country to continue on with additional training specific to their jobs. 

Some occupations had longer training times than others, and Harry’s had been one of the longest. He'd completed 730 days of training before officially becoming a Pararescueman (PJ), which was a remarkable accomplishment in and of itself. He'd become a part of one of the most elite and highly trained forces in the world, with over seventy-five percent of recruits failing.

It had been a rigorous and extensive training course that had left many physically and mentally exhausted. There were many times where the alpha hadn’t thought he would be able to finish. However, talking with his fellow airmen and sharing their struggles with one another had helped him push through and remind himself why he’d truly wanted to become a PJ. Their motto being, “These things we do, that others may live.” 

His time in training had not only built him up physically, but mentally. Shaping him into the alpha, husband, and father that he was today.

“Are you all ready to have a good day at school?” Harry asked, bringing his large hands together in a single clap. The girls all nodded in sync like brunette bobbleheads, even little Grace who was not enrolled in school yet.

Harry smiled at that, knowing his daughters tended to be less verbal in the mornings. He walked around the kitchen table, swiping a strip of turkey bacon from his middle child’s plate. 

“Hey, I was going to eat that.” Heather pouted up at her father. 

He took a bite of her bacon strip, before setting it back on her purple plate. “Sharing is caring, princess.” He grinned, jaw flexing as he chewed. 

“Ugh, fine,” she huffed, but moved her plate closer to herself. 

The alpha smacked a kiss atop his four-year-old's head before moving on to his second born.

“You can’t have any of my food, Daddy.” Lauryn smiled, small arms shielding her plate as he approached her. 

“Wow, so rude.” The alpha leaned over her chair, bringing his face down to be level with hers, making her giggle at his close proximity. “It’s a good thing I don’t want your food then,” he said, reaching around his six-year-old to take her unprotected glass of apple juice. 

“Daddy,” she whined, squinting at her father as he took a quick sip of her fruity beverage. 

Harry smacked his lips together, setting the glass back in its original place. “Ah, refreshing. Thank you for letting me have a drink of your juice, pumpkin.” 

Lauryn fixed her dad with an unimpressed look. “I didn’t,” she grumbled, sliding the glass closer to herself. The alpha grinned, kissing his annoyed daughter's temple.

“Swiper no swiping!” Grace called out, her small features morphing into a frown. Harry laughed at her cuteness, moving to place rapid kisses onto her pinchable cheeks. 

“Alpha, leave them alone and let them eat their breakfast in peace,” Louis interjected, drying the dishes that were placed on the gray silicone mat next to the sink. 

Harry chuckled, walking around the table to Claire and kissing her forehead before moving to where his petite spouse stood. 

“Need some help, baby?” he gently inquired, wrapping his arms around Louis’ torso and resting his freshly shaven chin comfortably atop his omega’s head. 

“No, I’m good. Thank you, though.” The omega leaned his head to the side, sharing a brief kiss with his husband. 

Louis was grateful that he had an alpha that continuously offered to help around the house and with the kids. He knew a lot of omegas who were stuck with the responsibility of doing everything, including waiting hand and foot on their alphas. 

Harry squeezed Louis’ waist, softly kissing the side of his neck before moving to the fridge. He took out his lunch that Louis had prepared for him earlier in the week and a chilled protein shake that he'd made before going on his run. 

He glanced at the digital clock on the stove, reaching into one of the lower cabinets to retrieve his navy blue lunch bag. “Little omegas, you have ten minutes to finish eating before we have to hit the road,” he announced to the room. 

Harry threw a couple of healthy snacks into his lunch bag to tide him over for the work day, as his alpha body burned off calories at an extremely fast rate. He walked back over to Louis after zipping his bag, leaning against the counter and leveling his mate with a knowing look. 

“What?” The omega glanced out of the corner of his blue eyes, smiling at the look his husband was giving him.

The alpha leaned closer to his mate, lowering his voice to whisper, “How’s your jaw?” 

Louis breathed out a laugh, stopping his drying to grin at Harry. “She’s doing just fine, as you can see.” The omega opened his mouth, moving it around in an exaggerated manner to prove his point.

True to his word, Louis had joined Harry in the shower after checking on Noah. At first, it had just been innocent fleeting touches and sweet shared kisses. As time progressed, the omega had eventually found himself kneeling on the hard white tile. Harry’s big hands had kept Louis’ head securely in place as he'd pounded his nine-inch alpha cock down the back of his mate’s tight throat.

The omega had taken the pounding with ease, relaxing his jaw and keeping his hands obediently behind his back. He got off on being roughed up by his husband, which had been evident in the overpowering scent of his slick in the confined space. 

Harry honked out a laugh at his mate’s actions, quickly covering his mouth after noticing his daughters’ confused looks. “Alright, I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t hurt you.” 

Louis went back to drying the dishes, his inner omega satisfied at being the reason behind his alpha’s amusement. 

“No, you didn’t hurt me. I mean, my throat feels a bit raw, but I’m good.” Louis took the empty plates and cups from Claire and Lauryn when they walked up to him, finished with their breakfast. “Very good! You ate all of your food. Now, go get your things and put on your shoes, okay sweet girls?” 

They smiled at their mother's praise, nodding their heads. “Okay, Mommy.”

Louis turned to Harry after placing the dishes in the sink, leaning against the counter to mirror his mate. “Besides, you know I like it when you’re rough with me,” he quietly admitted, sliding closer to his alpha.

Harry bit his lower lip at the bashful look on Louis’ face, finding the way his face flushed a pretty shade of pink arousing. 

Harry let out a low hum at his omega’s confession, swiftly kissing him on the lips before moving away, not wanting to get too worked up. “You girls finished eating?” the alpha called out to his last two daughters who were still at the table. 

“Yep,” Heather said, sliding out of her chair to bring her empty plate and cup to her mother before leaving the kitchen to get ready. 

“I done too!” Grace happily shouted, little feet swinging back and forth. 

“Good job, cupcake!” Harry praised, walking over to take her out of the high chair. He set her on the ground, using a damp paper towel to wipe off her sticky face and hands, and removed her ladybug bib before handing over her favorite sippy cup. 

She ran over to the gliding swing that was placed a safe distance away from everything, green frog print sippy cup in hand, peering over the top to look inside. “Hi, baby Noah,” she softly greeted the placid infant that was lying inside the cozy swing. 

“I didn’t know he was in there,” Harry said in surprise, handing Grace’s plate off to Louis. 

“Yep, you know we have a very quiet baby.” The omega thought back to the incident that had taken place earlier that morning. “Well, a quiet baby most of the time.” 

Harry walked over to the swing where his youngest child lay. Noah glanced away from his sister and gave a bright gummy smile at the sight of his father. “Good morning, my little omega,” Harry gently greeted, endeared at the fact that his son let off pheromones that aired his happiness at his presence. 

“He likes you, Daddy.” Grace gave a toothy smile to her father. 

“Well, I sure hope so, munchkin.” The alpha quickly tickled his son’s small tummy, placing a gentle kiss on his soft forehead. “Okay, I’m gonna see if the girls need any help,” the alpha called out to his mate on his way out of the kitchen. 

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Louis called back, moving to gather everyone’s lunch bags. 

Five minutes later, Louis found himself in the opened garage, handing off the lunch bags to everyone with a hug and a kiss, watching as Harry got their daughters securely strapped into their respective car and booster seats. 

Once the girls were settled in, Harry climbed into the driver's side, shutting the door and rolling down the tinted windows of the silver SUV. 

“You guys have everything, right?” Louis questioned, wanting to make sure that no one forgot anything important. “Okay,” he said, after receiving a yes from his daughters. “You’re not forgetting anything, right H?” Louis checked from where he stood at the passenger side window.

Harry squinted his green eyes as he pursed his lips, pretending to think about it for a moment. “You know what? I think I _am_ forgetting to take something.” 

The omega rolled his eyes, already knowing what his alpha was going to say. 

“Oh, yeah!” Harry snapped his long fingers. “You.” His sharp canines appeared as he leered at his mate. 

“Okay,” Louis replied, shaking his head, smiling at his cheesy alpha. 

The omega moved to rest his side against the SUV, peering into the vehicle at his daughters. “Alright girls, Mommy loves you all. Have a great day at school and I’ll see you this afternoon.” 

He smiled as they all called back, “Love you, Mommy!”

Louis walked around the front of the SUV to stand next to Harry's window, smiling at his husband. “Have a good day at work, Alpha. Drive safely and I love you.” He had to turn sideways to deliver a kiss to his husband's smooth cheek, as he had Noah nestled tightly against his chest in a peach colored baby sling. 

“I love you too, honey. Don’t let the kids and those dogs drive you crazy.”

“They’re always good for me. It’s just whenever you’re around that they start to act up. Maybe you’re the problem?” Louis teased his mate. 

“Ha. Ha. Whatever, Omega. We gotta get going. See ya later, babe.” Harry playfully raised his brows up and down at his smiling spouse as he rolled up all the windows.

Louis took several steps back from the vehicle, rubbing Noah’s back through the sling with one hand and holding Grace’s smaller one with the other. 

They waved at the retreating SUV, watching as it disappeared down the road and out of sight. He watched on as their three dogs ran around the front yard, enjoying the nice weather outside. 

The omega sighed, looking down at his toddler wrapped around his right leg. He knew Grace was upset watching her sisters go off to school while she had to stay at home. 

“Welp, it’s just you, me, and Noah, again.” He set his hand gently atop her head. “Don’t worry. You and I will have lots and lots of fun.” He smiled as she looked up at him. “We always have fun together, yeah?”

She thought about it for a moment, before vigorously nodding her head, remembering all of the enjoyable things she and her mother did when they were together.

Louis patted her small head, flashing his omega canines. “That’s my girl,” he praised, rubbing his knuckles in gentle strokes against her soft cheek. 

Deeming their dogs to have had enough time to frolic around, he whistled, calling out to them as they made their way back into the house, “Ginger, Cocoa, Peanut! Come here!” 

He stopped in the doorway, once his daughter and dogs were safely inside, gazing at the open fields in front of the house and getting lost in the picturesque view of the mountains. 

His daydreaming came to an abrupt halt at the sound of a bark followed by a loud crash within the house. 

Letting out a heavy exhale through his nose, he pressed a button on the wall to close the garage, shutting and locking the door behind him. 

He continued to rub soothing motions against Noah’s back, smiling as his son snuggled closer against his chest. He scented the tiny omega, making his way towards whatever mess awaited him. 

He supposed it was going to be another long day.

  
  
***

  
  


It was a thirty-minute commute from the family home to Arnold Air Force Base, located just outside the city of Sheridan in northern Wyoming. All that could be seen during the drive was miles of lush grasslands along with the altitudinous mountains stretching off into the distance.

Louis and Harry had made the decision not to live on base after reading the shitty reviews left by service members on the conditions of base housing. One of Harry’s coworkers had referred the couple to a nice Beta realtor in the area, as he had been stationed at Arnold before. She’d found them a spacious, move-in ready, five bedroom, four-and-a-half bath that had been on the market for over a year for an excellent price. 

The pair had been skeptical at first, it had seemed too good to be true. Harry had told Louis that maybe a murder had taken place in the house and that _that_ was the reason why no one was interested in buying. The omega had rolled his eyes at his husband’s overactive imagination, taking a more realistic approach, that maybe there were some major hidden repairs that needed to be done. 

The realtor had eased their worries, explaining that the houses were priced much lower the farther they were from the city, and that the previous owners were desperate to get rid of the property and move on with their lives, dropping the price well below what it was actually worth.

Harry’s mother had agreed to fly up from Tallahassee to check out the house for them. She'd let the couple know that everything seemed to be in working condition after completing a thorough inspection. So, trusting her judgement, they'd decided to go through with the purchase. 

Six months later, they’d moved from Japan—along with their children and pets—into their new home, located in the countryside of northern Wyoming.

After having his military ID checked by security forces at the main entrance of the base, Harry proceeded to drive to Arnold Elementary to drop his daughters off at school. 

The family had moved to Wyoming in July, meaning the girls had been able to start school in August with the rest of their classmates. Which was fortunate for Harry, as he and his mate hated when they had to take their children out of school in the middle of the year.

The alpha drove to the other side of the base where the school was located, joining the long queue of vehicles waiting to drop their children off. When he finally pulled up close enough to the front of the sand colored brick building, he hopped out of the driver's side to open the doors for his pups.

“You girls got everything?" he questioned, helping his daughters out of the tall vehicle. 

“Yep,” they all confirmed, nodding their little heads. Harry crouched down to their level once they were all standing outside of the SUV. 

“Alright, my little omegas. I love you all.” He warmly smiled, giving them each a quick hug with a peck to their pink cheeks. 

“And remember, if any of those snotty nosed alphas mess with you, tell ‘em they better stop or else your dad's gonna beat them up, okay?” 

The omegas giggled at their father's ridiculous comment. 

“You always say that, Daddy,” Heather sighed, rolling her eyes. 

“And I mean it too,” the alpha confirmed, nodding once before standing back up. “Alright, have fun at school. Make sure you learn all that you can. Your mother will pick you up this afternoon, so I’ll see you all tonight.” 

He sent them on their way with a final goodbye and a wave. His heart warmed at the sight of Claire walking between her sisters, holding on to each of their hands as they made their way inside the school. She always tried her best to watch out for her younger siblings, making sure that they were safe and happy.

Harry climbed back into his SUV after making sure his daughters made it safely inside the school. He sat in his seat for a few seconds, blankly staring at the black leather steering wheel before releasing a heavy exhale and starting up the engine.

The alpha succumbed to his inner thoughts as he began the quiet drive to his workplace. All he could think about was the news he'd received four days ago and how he was going to tell Louis. 

Whatever the omega's reaction, Harry just hoped that his sweet, small spouse would have mercy on him and kindly not rip his knot off. 

  
  
  
*** 

  
  
“Fuck, man. That was intense.”

“It wasn’t that bad for me.” Harry glanced over at the gasping beta sitting to his left on the shared metal bench. “C’mon Moore. Stop being a fuckin’ pussy,” he teased, shoving the man with a firm shoulder.

“Man, fuck you.” The beta side-eyed the alpha, trying to get his labored breaths under control, before giving a weak shove back. “I almost died down there.”

Harry huffed out a laugh at his friend. “Quit being dramatic. I was with you the whole time.” He fixed the hunched over beta with an amused look. “You got yourself out before time was even up. Plus, if shit ever actually hit the fan the instructors would have taken over and gotten you out.”

The soaked beta sighed, waiting a few seconds before sitting back up. “I know. I just fuckin' hate being trapped in a confined space underwater.” He wiped a hand down his face to clear off some of the excess pool water.

“Well, you made it out in one piece.” They watched in silence as the next group of men were briefed before making their way into the makeshift airplane. “I would think that after sixteen years in the force you would have been used to this by now.”

The beta rolled his shoulders back, bringing a hand to the back of his neck before rotating his head in slow circles. “Nah, I was never good at holdin' my breath for long periods of time. I had to train myself not to panic after holdin' it for a few seconds.” 

He glanced at Harry with a lopsided smile. “I know that’s not a real fuckin' concern for you alphas with your big ass lungs to keep all that hot air in.” 

Harry shrugged, fixing the beta with a nonchalant look. “Can’t help it if I’m part of the superior species.” He flashed a toothy grin. “At least according to scientists.”

“Yeah, okay.” The beta shook his head, knocking his right leg into Harry’s. 

The pair quietly laughed to themselves as the next group of men emerged from underwater, comically gasping for air once their heads broke the surface. 

“Hey, you proved yourself during training and throughout the years. You’re one of the few betas in special forces.” 

It was true. Out of all the service branches, Tyrell Moore was one of the seventeen betas currently in a special forces occupation, and one of the ninety-eight in U.S. military history. 

Special Forces was a field designed for alphas and it was hard for even the majority of them to pass the training. So, it was kind of a big deal when a beta made it through the course in a specialty dominated by alphas with over 53,800 members combined. Tyrell even graduated at the top of his class which garnered national—and some international—headlines.

“Well, I mean, you know,” Tyrell hubristicly replied, pretending to brush off each shoulder. “I wasn't gonna say anything, but since you brought it up let’s talk about it.” 

The alpha chuckled, shaking his head at his friend.

They continued to watch on as another group made their way into the airplane before the equipment gradually submerged itself underwater while turning upside down in the process. 

A few minutes passed between them in comfortable silence before the beta spoke up, “Have you told Louis yet?” 

Harry sighed, knowing what Tyrell was referring to. “Nope, but I’m going to tonight. Thinking about stopping on my way home and getting him some of those cupcakes he likes from that bakery in town.” 

“Yeah, you better tell him tonight. Don’t know what the hell you waited so long for. You leave next week.”

The alpha rubbed his restless hands together in a sliding motion. “I don’t know. We just moved here and it’s a totally new environment. We’ve always had several months to prepare before I deployed, not one fuckin' week.” Harry let out a heavy exhale. “And I’ve never been gone when one of our pups was so young.” He paused, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “I guess I don’t want him to freak the fuck out.”

Tyrell fixed Harry with a blank look. “Louis? Freaking the fuck out, really? C’mon Styles, don’t tell me I know your omega better than you do.” 

The alpha looked over to the beta, one brow raised.

“If anything, he’ll be a little emotional once you tell him. Which is understandable.” 

Harry chuckled at his friend, finding humor in the fact that someone else was telling him how his own mate would react in a situation. 

“But once the initial shock wears off he’ll suck it up and do what he has to do to take care of his family. ‘Cause that’s what strong omegas do.” Tyrell hit the back of his hand against Harry’s thigh. “And you my friend have one strong omega.” 

Harry had met Tyrell at MacDill AFB in Florida, where the alpha was first stationed. The two had become fast friends and had kept in touch after both had eventually moved on to separate bases. 

Tyrell was one of the first people Harry had told about Louis. The besotted alpha had gushed daily to the patient beta for what felt like hours on end about how extraordinary Louis was and how he wasn’t going to leave this earth without putting a shiny ring on his baby’s pretty, little finger. 

Listening to Harry’s mushy ramblings had had the beta really wanting to meet the person who'd managed to charm the pants off his alpha friend and transform him into a lovesick fool. 

As fate would have it, the omega and beta would officially meet when the newlyweds and newly mated pair moved to Harry’s third duty location, Edwards AFB in California, where Tyrell and his family had already been located.

Unsurprisingly, the Styles’ and Moore’s had gotten along with one another effortlessly. Louis and Tammie, Tyrell’s wife, had become close friends, as they'd found a common bond in being military spouses and first time mothers. The two families had grown close during the three years they were together, keeping in touch after moving on to other bases.

Now, they were all back together again. Tyrell hoped this would be his final assignment before retiring in four years, as he had grown tired of moving his family around the country—and the world.

A faint smile graced Harry’s lips, as it tended to do whenever he got to thinking about the love of his life. “Yeah, I know. He's the best omega.” 

The alpha’s soppy clothes hung uncomfortably from his body as he stood up from the bench, adding an extra layer of heavy weight to his bulky frame. He and Tyrell grimaced at the unpleasant feeling of water sloshing about in their boots as they made their way over to where their coworkers were gathering, waiting for the final briefing of the day before being sent home for the weekend. 

“I’m still getting him those fuckin' cupcakes though.” 

The beta laughed at the way his friend suggestively raised his eyebrows up and down. 

“My baby always gives me some extra lovin' when I bring home his favorite sweet treats.” 

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


“Honey, I’m home!” Harry called out, security alarm beeping twice as he made his way into the house from the garage.

“In the kitchen!” 

The alpha’s nose twitched, mouth slightly watering at the appetizing aroma of something yummy wafting throughout the home.

  
  


He set the hefty duffle bag carrying his wet clothes in the laundry room before making his way to the kitchen. “Mmmm. Something smells delicious, and I don’t mean the food,” Harry voiced, walking into the kitchen to find his omega bent over, checking the food in the oven. 

He licked his lips, ogling the way Louis’ jeggings tightly clung to his lower half. His eyes slid up from his omega’s delicate ankles, making their way to toned calves, traveling up beautiful thick thighs, to finally rest on a plump ass that was begging to be bent over the nearest surface and pounded into.

“I can feel your eyes burning a hole into my butt, Alpha.” Louis chuckled, straightening his back and closing the chrome oven door.

Harry huffed out a laugh, not embarrassed in the slightest, as he was sure his mate felt his rising arousal coursing through their bond. 

What can he say? His omega had the best buns in the world. 

Louis’ whole face lit up in delight once he took notice of the familiar bakery boxes. _“Ooo,_ you got cupcakes from my favorite place.” The petite omega happily slid over to the counter in his gray socks with white bunnies displayed atop each foot, almost busting his cute tush on the tiled floor in the process.

“I _saw_ that, Omega.”

“Shut up. No, you didn’t.” 

The giddy omega paused before opening the baby blue boxes, a faint blush staining his cheeks at being the reason behind his alpha’s rapt focus. “Can I open them now or are they a surprise for later?” Louis softly asked, coyly blinking up at his husband.

A loving smile formed onto Harry’s lips. “You can open them now if you want.” 

Louis gave his husband a bright smile before gently lifting back the top of both boxes. “Aw, they're so pretty.” His eyes sparkled at the sight of the beautifully decorated cupcakes.

The first box had an assortment of flavors, each cupcake decorated with various colors of buttercream frosting in the shape of a flower with sprinkles in the middle. The second box was all red velvet, Louis’ favorite. These cupcakes were more simple in their design with only buttercream frosting swirled on top. 

The pleased omega let out a satisfied hum. _“Mmm,_ they smell good too.” Louis closed the boxes after taking a few more seconds to admire the beauty of the cupcakes. “Thank you, my love.” Louis smiled, leaning over to softly kiss his alpha. 

“You’re welcome, pumpkin,” Harry mumbled against his mate’s lips, stealing one more kiss before leaning back. 

“I got the flower ones for the girls.” Harry glanced away from his mate, jutting his head towards the first box before quickly bringing his eyes back to the angelic face before him. “And the red velvet ones are obviously for you, being your favorite and all that.” His face twisted in disgust at his omega’s poor taste in cake flavors.

“Hey, now. Don’t be like that. You're just jealous because I get to have _all_ these delicious red velvet cupcakes to myself,” Louis teased as he gingerly folded his arms around the box, bending down to rest the side of his face against its blue top. 

Harry chuckled at the remark, his spouse knowing his distaste for the flavor. “Nah, you don’t have to worry about me wanting any of your cupcakes.” He watched as Louis stacked the boxes before moving to place them in the stainless steel refrigerator. “You’re going to have to share your cupcakes with the kids anyway.” 

Louis grinned at the truthfulness of his husband’s comment. No matter what, the girls always wanted a taste of their parents' food—even when they had their own to eat. 

Louis walked back over to his husband, almost slipping again on the white tiled floor. The couple laughed as the omega securely wrapped his slim arms around his alpha’s waist, head tilted back as his chin rested against Harry’s sternum. 

“I don’t mind. I love sharing my food with my babies.” Louis gently smiled, innocently blinking up at his alpha. 

“Yeah, and I love sharing my food with my baby,” The alpha softly rumbled, gently cupping the omega’s face in his large hands before dipping his head to kiss thin, pink lips. 

They languidly made out in the kitchen for a few minutes, only pulling away when their German Shepherd, Ginger, tried to nudge herself between the pair. “Where are the kids?” Harry inquired, crouching to softly rub at Ginger’s head. 

“They’re in the living room watching cartoons. I put Noah in his swing in there as well,” Louis answered, going to stir the soup in the large red pot that was simmering on the stove. 

The alpha nodded his head in reply even though his mate couldn’t see him. He was thinking about how he was going to tell his omega the news of his deployment. He tried to control his nervous feelings—hoping that Louis wouldn’t be able to pick up on it in his scent or through their bond 

“Cool. Um, I actually needed to tell you something.” The uneasy alpha continued to stroke Ginger’s silky fur, moving to scratch underneath her dark chin. 

Louis continued to stir the pot, stopping to adjust the silver burner knob before continuing the motion. “Oh yeah, what is it?” 

Harry released a heavy exhale, thinking he might as well rip the band-aid off. “I was tasked for a deployment. I’m leaving in a week for four months.” 

He kept his eyes trained on Ginger, continuing to pet the relaxed canine in order to keep his hands busy. He didn’t want to see the look on his mate’s face and could already feel dread slowly coursing through their bond. 

Louis’ bunny socked feet came into Harry’s view as he stood in front of his husband. “A week? Really?” 

Harry shrugged, not wanting to make eye contact with his mate. “Yeah. I tried asking if there was someone else that could replace me for the time being, but I guess I was their only option.” 

That dreadful feeling started to make itself more known through their shared bond the longer the conversation went on.

“But you just got here two months ago, and you returned from a deployment earlier this year. Aren’t you supposed to have some rest time or something?” A frown was etched onto the omega’s pretty face, hands resting on his hips as he stared down at his husband.

“Yes, and I’m not technically in my deployment band, but they need someone with my rank down range, and I’m apparently the most qualified person from this base.” 

Harry had discussed all of these things with his commander, explaining his situation. 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t get out of the short notice deployment. It fucking sucked, but that was the reality of his job, the reality of being in the military. You go where they need you to go and ninety-nine point nine percent of the time you don’t get a say in it. You shut up and color. 

“I have a hard time believing they couldn’t possibly find someone else out of all those other people, but whatever.” Louis blew out a harsh breath, trying to keep his emotions in check. 

  
  


His husband was leaving for four more months after just returning from a four month deployment back in May. It took everything in him not to scream out in frustration. 

Harry had told Louis when they had started to become more serious with their courting that due to the nature of his job he was pretty much guaranteed to be gone for four months out of every year. Louis had understood that if he were to decide to build a life with the alpha then some compromises and sacrifices would have to be made—not only on Harry’s part, but on his as well. It wasn’t the fact that Harry was deploying that was bothering him. The omega had gotten used to it after nine years of marriage to the alpha. It was the fact that Harry will be leaving yet again and won’t be back until next year, leaving him with only one week to try and have everything sorted before Harry’s departure. 

With his mate leaving on this deployment he would have only spent four months out of the entire year with his family.

Ginger let out a high pitched whine, getting up to leave the kitchen as she became aware of the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room. Harry sighed, no longer having an excuse to not focus his attention on his omega. He stood to his full height, keeping his eyes trained on Louis’ bunny socks.

“Alright, well do you have a lot that needs to get done before you leave?”

“Just a few things. I’m mostly current on everything since it hasn’t been that long since my last deployment, so I’m not stressing about it too much,” Harry replied in a low tone, moving to rest his elbows on the counter in front of him. He drew nonsensical patterns on the smooth surface with his left index finger, still avoiding Louis’ eyes.

The alpha suddenly winced—trying to subtly rub at his chest. The grotty feelings of dread and frustration surging through their bond were starting to affect him. 

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Louis nodded to himself, sensing that he wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping his emotions in check, if his alpha’s mood was anything to go by.

“You’re not upset with me?” Harry finally looked up from the counter and into his mate’s beautiful blue eyes. He didn’t find anger or bitterness projected towards him. The only thing he found reflecting back into his own eyes was a look of understanding with a trace of sadness.

Louis frowned in confusion, shaking his head as he moved closer to Harry, placing a small hand on the alpha’s broad back. “Why would I be upset with you? This whole situation is clearly out of your control.” The alpha relaxed a bit as his omega started rubbing soothing motions against his tense back. 

“I mean, you at least tried to see if anyone else could take your spot.” Louis bent down to rest the side of his soft face against Harry’s. “And yeah it’s shit that you’ll be gone again after only spending a few months with us, but they clearly need you there.” The omega pressed a gentle kiss onto his husband’s cheekbone. 

“Myself, the children, and the dogs will be okay while you’re gone. Just like we always are. And we’ll be right here happily waiting when you return home to us.”

Harry allowed himself to further relax at Louis’ words, moving to place a tender kiss onto his omega’s soft lips. “I know, sweetheart. I just can’t help but worry about everything that could potentially go wrong while I’m gone. We usually have more time to prepare for this. I fucking hate leaving you guys. Especially since I know how hard the separation can get for you.”

Omegas tended to be more prone to separation anxiety than their alpha counterparts. Luckily, there were natural remedies to help curb the feeling of being separated from one’s mate, but most were only for temporary means. It was initially a real cause for concern with Louis during Harry’s first deployment.

When it came to being physically separated from their mates for months on end, omegas had to be prescribed medication to help combat the crippling emotion. Louis had gotten better at handling being separated from his alpha throughout the years, but his inner omega always won the war in the end—ceaselessly raging at not having his mate close—therefore causing the omega to eventually medicate just to subdue the internal turmoil he was experiencing.

“I understand, but don't worry. I’ll be alright.” Louis gently nudged his nose against Harry’s. 

“Yeah, I know you will, my gorgeous omega.” Harry pushed off the counter, pulling his mate into a comforting hug. 

The couple tightly held onto each other, gently swaying from side to side while projecting feelings of love and reassurance between their bond. Harry was just relieved that Louis wasn’t upset with him and didn't have a full on break down either. Even though he would have been prepared to handle any reaction—without faulting his omega for feeling the way he felt. 

The alpha felt lucky that the universe placed him with such a kind, loving, and understanding mate. Not only towards him, but towards their children, pets, and any living thing that was fortunate enough to cross paths with the remarkable omega. Harry truly felt deep in his bones—in his heart and soul—that there was no one else on this earth that was made for him—except for Louis.

After several minutes, they reluctantly pulled away from their comforting embrace, silently going their separate ways. Louis was left to drown in his own thoughts as he solemnly finished up dinner while Harry went to the living room to greet their children.

After checking to make sure the food was done the omega turned the stove off and took the tray of cheesy breadsticks out of the oven to place on the counter. 

He tried to hold off the onslaught of burning tears, placing the warm breadsticks one by one into the bread basket. It had been a while since he’d allowed himself to cry while preparing food and he wasn’t about to break his streak tonight.

Several emotions were swirling around inside of him and he wasn’t sure if most of what he was feeling was justifiable or not. He’d tried to be as reassuring as possible to Harry, knowing how much it stressed the alpha to be away for long periods of time and not be there to protect his family.

It wasn’t like they lived in sketchy places and required protection 24/7. However, it was in an alpha’s nature to always want to provide complete security for their mates and offspring.

Louis moved to quickly set the dining room table—making sure everything was neatly placed for their meal. He took a step back from the table, not in the mood to admire his work like he usually would. 

He placed his hands on his hips and hung his head back, taking a deep breath and holding it for twenty seconds before slowly exhaling. The omega repeated the action two more times to ensure he truly had tight control over his emotions for the time being. 

His children were extremely receptive and could pick up on his mood changes in a heartbeat. He really didn’t want to scare his pups, worry his alpha, or embarrass himself by bursting into tears while they had a lovely family dinner.

With a final sigh he untied the straps of his red and white polka-dotted apron. He would allow himself to cry and wallow in self-pity once he was truly able to be alone for the night. For now, he put on a happy facade—making sure his scent matched the emotion on his face. 

After all, he did have a hungry family waiting to eat and he couldn’t waste any more time trying to pull himself together. He tried to make the smile that was plastered onto his face as genuine as possible as he made his way to the living room. “Dinner’s ready!” he called out cheerfully.

Louis had a role that he was expected to play and he was determined to not allow anyone to catch even a glimpse of what he was truly feeling on the inside. 

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


The mated pair retired to their bedroom later that night after putting the children to bed. Harry had been tasked with reading a bedtime story to his daughters. His deep monotonous voice narrating along to _Goldilocks and the Three Bears_ had had the omegas lightly snoring within a few short minutes. 

Louis was in charge of rocking Noah to sleep that night, having to sing three different lullabies to the omega infant before he _finally_ kept his eyes closed, drifting off into a peaceful slumber. 

“What a night,” Louis sighed, pressing his small fist against his mouth to stifle a yawn. His eyes were calmly closed as he laid across the king-sized bed, but they immediately snapped open upon hearing the sound of heavy feet speedily advancing towards him. He shrieked, rolling out of the way just in time before being crushed by his mate belly flopping onto the bed. 

“Ugh, I know. But, _hey,_ at least it’s Friday,” the alpha stated, before promptly getting hit several times in the back of the head by a large, fluffy pillow. “Damn, Omega. What’d I do?” Harry questioned, laughing as he tried to grab the pillow from his displeased mate. 

“That’s for almost killing me, you big, dumb Neanderthal!” Louis called out, eventually growing tired of hitting his husband with the pillow. 

Harry propped himself up onto his elbows, looking over at his sweet spouse who had placed himself an unacceptable distance away from him. “C’mere, Omega. Let your alpha hold you.”

“No, m’good right where I’m at,” Louis mumbled, eyes closed as exhaustion started to overtake his body.

The omega softly bit the inside of his cheek to try and contain a smile when he felt the bed shake with his husband’s determined movements to reach him. He eventually felt the mattress dip next to him under the heavy weight of his muscular mate. 

Harry propped himself up onto his side, pressing his big body snugly against his omega’s smaller one. He smiled at the lovely sound of Louis’ breath slightly hitching as he slipped his calloused hand underneath the omega’s purple satin chemise.

“When do you want to tell the girls?” Louis questioned, placing his hand atop Harry’s to prevent the alpha’s calloused hand from sliding further up his body. Harry stared at his omega’s relaxed face, taking in the way the bedside lamps cast a beautiful yellowy-orange glow onto his dewy face. The sight reminded Harry of something akin to a serene, sleeping angel. 

“We can do it tomorrow if you’d like?” 

Louis gave a slight nod, opening his eyes and looking up into his mate’s green ones. “Okay.”

Harry could see that something was seriously troubling his omega the longer he stared into his eyes. “I can feel many different emotions in our bond right now. You want to tell me what’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?” 

Louis sighed, squeezing his husband’s hand that rested on his stomach through his nightgown.

The omega had a lot of things on his mind at that moment. He felt a jumble of emotions he had yet to decipher and he wasn’t sure how to properly express his thoughts to Harry without feeling foolish for having them in the first place.

Louis slid his eyes away from his alpha’s concerned stare to focus on the cross necklace resting against his bare chest. “I don’t know. I start to worry when I know you’re about to leave,” he quietly answered, taking a hold of and thumbing at Harry’s miniature cross. “I know you’ll be fine. You always are. I just can’t help but think what if, you know?”

Harry has had a few close calls throughout his years of being deployed in hostile environments. He'd been shot twice during his first deployment, once in his upper left arm and once in his right thigh, when he'd had to retrieve a fallen Canadian soldier during an intense line of fire.

That was the only time he'd suffered from serious injuries, and it was before he had met Louis. The omega had still fretted over Harry like a mother hen when he’d been told about the incident despite it happening four and a half years prior. 

Harry wasn’t allowed to tell his omega the details of his whereabouts or what took place during his missions, but he'd wanted to ensure that Louis was aware of the fact that he was put in dangerous situations and that there was always a high probability of him being gravely injured or worse.

It had been a hard pill for Louis to swallow, but he'd eventually made his peace with it, as it was the grim reality of his husband’s job. 

He especially didn’t like the fact that Harry’s will needed to be updated after the birth of each child. It constantly served as a harsh reminder that his alpha might not make it home to him.

Harry was mindful of the fact that Louis constantly worried about his well-being while he was deployed and always tried his best to reassure him that nothing and no one could keep him from returning to his family. “I understand, sweet Omega,” Harry softly rumbled, wiggling his hand free from his mate’s grip before removing it from underneath the satin chemise. 

The alpha moved to completely lay down onto his side as his omega maneuvered his body to do the same. They gave each other loving smiles, the tips of their noses brushing together at their close proximity. 

Louis placed a soft hand against his husband’s toned chest, lightly brushing his fingers over the exposed hair there, while Harry gripped his omega’s smooth leg to place over his waist.

Harry looked deeply into Louis’ eyes, trying to convey some sort of reassurance to his omega. “I can’t stop you from worrying, but I can at least try to ease some of your fears.” 

Louis slowly released a breath, giving his alpha a relaxed smile. “You do such an amazing job at making sure I stay calm and level headed, Alpha. I really appreciate it and I’m so thankful to have you in my life.”

Harry’s inner alpha was chuffed at his omega’s praise and it even inflated his ego a little bit. All bonded alphas wanted to be told that they were valued and doing a good job at fulfilling their role in the relationship by their mates.

The omega smiled, feeling his alpha’s happiness flow through their bond. “The fact of the matter is that you’re going to be gone for several months and you're going to be put in life-threatening situations. So no matter what you say or do, I’m still going to be concerned for your safety.”

Harry leaned forward to place three succinct kisses onto Louis’ pink, petal soft lips. “I just don’t want you to make yourself sick by stressing out over it.” 

Goosebumps formed all over the omega’s body as his alpha slid his large, rough textured hand from his thigh to firmly squeeze at his right ass cheek.

“I can’t help it. I’m a worrier. It’s in my nature to worry,” Louis answered, body quivering as his mate slid his hand from his ass, up the plane of his back, to finally rest on the back of his neck. 

The alpha gently gripped the back of his mate’s neck, brushing his thumb over the raised, red bond mark. 

Harry softly smiled at the way Louis' beautiful eyelids fluttered closed. A low breathy whine escaped past the omega's lips from the immense pleasure he was receiving from having his sensitive mark touched. 

“Besides, I can always take my medication if it starts to get too bad,” Louis mumbled, muscles completely relaxing and arousal spiking as Harry pressed his thumb firmly onto his bond mark.

The alpha leaned forward to place a single kiss onto each of his omega’s closed, pink eyelids before moving to deliver a final kiss between the space of his neatly plucked brows. He loosened his grip on Louis' neck, sliding his hand down to press on his mate’s lower back, shifting his hips forward to get a better fit in between his omega’s smooth thighs. 

“Well, just know that you can always come to me for anything. No matter what it is. You don’t ever need to feel like you’re being a burden, ‘cause you’re not. Okay, baby?” 

Louis lazily blinked his eyes open, softly smiling at his mate. “Okay, Alpha. I love you.” 

Harry tightly held onto Louis as he rolled off his side to lay flat on his back, bringing his omega to rest comfortably on his solid chest. “I love you too, sweetheart.” 

Louis leaned forward, small, soft hands pressing down on his alpha’s meaty pecs, placing a light peck on his lips. 

Harry stopped his mate from leaning away by securely gripping either side of his pretty face. The omega made a surprised sound in the back of his throat as he was forcefully tugged into a passionate kiss. It didn’t take long for Louis to start producing slick with the way his alpha was hungrily tonguing into his mouth. 

The greedy alpha removed his large hands from his omega’s flushed face to push the purple negligee further up his lithe body. He spread his fingers out wide to grab hold of Louis’ supple round cheeks. 

The omega quietly gasped against his alpha’s lips as an audible smack was delivered against his left ass cheek, leaving behind a bright red handprint.

Louis abruptly sat up, disconnecting their lips with a giggle at the way Harry’s tongue poked out to try and taste more of his sweet spouse. The omega braced his hands on his alpha’s hard chest as he slid his panty clad ass over his alpha’s clothed, hard cock. 

Harry grinned up at his omega’s pleasure filled face, rubbing two fingers over his hole through the lace material. Louis sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and threw his head back in a high pitched whine as Harry slipped two long fingers underneath the seam of his white panties to press into his tight entrance.

“Mmm, Alpha,” Louis released a light breathy moan, pushing back against his mate’s skilled fingers. 

Harry continued working his omega open, trying to crook his fingers just the right way to elicit more of the heavenly sounds from his angelic mate. 

Louis started to move up and down at a leisurely pace when his husband pushed a third finger into his slick hole. He eventually worked himself up to fully bouncing on Harry’s stiff fingers when the alpha easily slid in a fourth and final finger as he wasn’t in the mood to fist his mate that night.

“That’s it, my beautiful omega. Don’t hold back. Let your Alpha hear more of those lovely sounds you make.” 

Louis huffed out a laugh, continuing to bounce on Harry’s fingers. “In case _— shit —_ in case you forgot _— fuck —_ we’re not the only people in this house.” 

Harry smiled, bringing his free hand up to gently cup the side of Louis’ face. He tenderly stroked his thumb over his mate’s soft cheek. A slight sticky residue was left behind on the omega’s face by the heavy application of his night cream.

“Like that’s stopped you before.” The alpha laughed at the light smack he received to his bare chest by his affronted mate. 

“How dare you. I’ve always taken the volume of my voice into consideration.” The omega huffed, halting his movements to push himself firmly down onto his alpha’s fingers.

Harry bit down on his bottom lip at the feeling of Louis’ slick steadily leaking from his hole to slowly slide down his hand. His cock gave an interested twitch when Louis clenched firmly around his fingers, his delicious scent permeating the air in the room.

The alpha showed off his sharp canines, grinning up at his irked spouse. “Sure. Whatever you say, Lou.” 

Louis rolled his eyes, fully extracting himself from being penetrated by his husband’s fingers to move completely off his mate. 

Harry made a confused, hurt noise in the back of his throat at the loss of his omega. “Okay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said. You’re only loud when it's just us around. I don’t know why I implied otherwise. You’re a _very_ considerate person. Please forgive your stupid, dumb alpha,” Harry pleaded, actual desperation starting to leak into his tone at the possibility of not getting the chance to fuck his omega into oblivion. 

“Chill out, H. You’re still going to get some ass tonight. I’m just taking these off.” Louis smirked, holding up his right hand to show off his white lace panties that dangled from his index finger. “Catch,” Louis said, tossing his panties to his husband who easily caught them with one hand.

The omega frowned when his alpha brought the material up to his nose, deeply inhaling his mate’s fruity scent. 

“Mmm, _fuck_ that smells amazing,” Harry groaned, palming at his hardened cock through his tight black briefs. 

“You’re so weird, Alpha,” he giggled, shaking his head while moving to straddle his husband. 

“You make me weird,” Harry mumbled, still taking sniffs of his mate’s panties. 

“Somehow, I find that hard to believe, and give me _that.”_ Louis laughed, snatching the garment from his husband and tossing it to land somewhere over his shoulder. “Now that I have your attention again, I really wanted to thank you.” 

Harry licked his lips and smirked, already knowing where the conversation was headed. “Yeah? What’d you want to thank me for, baby?” 

The omega coyly blinked down at his alpha through full lashes. “Well, I wanted to properly thank you for buying me those beautiful cupcakes today.” Louis softly smiled at his mate. 

“Don’t flatter yourself, they were for the girls too, pretty Omega,” the alpha cheekily replied.

Louis breathed out a laugh, looking up at the white ceiling of their bedroom before bringing his blue eyes to lock back onto Harry’s green ones. “You’re ridiculous. Do you want a happy ending to this night or not, Alpha?” 

Harry brought his hands up in a surrender before gently placing them back onto his omega’s thick thighs.

Louis slightly grimaced at the feeling of his own slick touching his skin from his alpha’s hand. “Anyway, like I was saying. I wanted to properly thank you for getting me my favorite cupcakes.

Not only were they beautiful to look at, but they were yummy too.” Louis smiled, sending his alpha a flirtatious look.

“Anything for you, baby.” 

“Mhm. I wanted to show you in my own _special_ way how much I really appreciate it.”

Louis reached back, slipping his hand underneath the waistband of Harry’s briefs to gently grasp his cock. 

Harry moaned at the feeling of his omega’s small, soft hand taking hold of his aching length, moving to slide his briefs down far enough so that his dick could be fully exposed.

“And just how do you plan on showing your alpha your gratitude, Omega?” Harry bucked his hips upward, fucking into his omega’s slick hand. 

Louis maneuvered himself so that his back faced his husband. “I’d rather show than tell, my love.” He shot a playful look over his right shoulder, lining his alpha’s erect cock up with his pink hole.

Harry spread his omega open so that he would have an easier time sliding his cock into his mate’s body. 

Louis gave his husband a grateful look before slowly sinking down onto the first three inches of his alpha’s nine-inch cock. The bonded pair let out simultaneous moans at the erotic feeling. 

Harry clenched his teeth together to keep himself from busting a nut as Louis’ tight, wet heat gloriously clenched around his throbbing cock. 

Louis whimpered, having to bring a balled up fist to his mouth to stifle his sounds.

“Oh, now I understand what you’re wanting to do,” Harry stated, delivering a loud smack to his omega’s left thigh, leaving behind another glowing, bright red handprint on his mate’s body. 

Louis whined high in his throat at the stinging feeling, sinking down three more inches onto his alpha’s thick cock.

“Well, don’t let me stop you, sweetheart. Go on. Show your alpha how thankful you really are.”

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


“Are you having _another_ baby?” 

Louis and Harry had congregated their children into the living room after brunch the following day to discuss the alpha’s upcoming departure. The mated pair sat on opposite ends of the dark gray sofa with their daughters placed between them.

“No Heather, I’m not having another baby,” Louis gently replied, smiling at the exasperated look overtaking his four-year-old's features. 

He and Harry shared amused looks when their middle child let out a relieved breath, slumping back into the cushions at hearing her mother’s response.

Harry cleared his throat, shifting in his seat so that he was fully facing his family. Five pairs of eyes quietly blinked back at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. The alpha had to admit that he was a little nervous about what his daughters' reactions to the news would be. 

They were very understanding every time they had this conversation, taking after their mother in that regard, but he'd also never had to leave his family twice in one year before. He didn’t want his pups to harbor any sort of resentment towards him. 

“You know that I have to leave a few months every year due to my job, right?” 

They all nodded their heads at his question. He glanced at his omega who gave him a single nod along with an encouraging smile to continue. 

“Well, turns out I’m needed again, so I’ll have to leave for a few more months.” He waited a beat before continuing, watching each of their faces to gauge their reactions. “How do you all feel about that?”

“You’re leaving again? But you just got back.” Lauryn pouted, feeling upset that her father would have to leave them for a second time that year. 

“I know sweetpea, but unfortunately I don’t have a choice. If it were up to me I would never have to leave you guys,” Harry reassured, reaching over to stroke the six-year-old's brunette head.

“When are you leaving?” Claire piped in. 

“Next Saturday.” 

They all let out various sounds of surprise at their father’s response. 

“I know. I know. It was a shock for me too. But don’t worry, we’ll still get a chance to talk with each other while I’m away. Just like all the other times, yeah?”

The young omegas nodded their heads once again, seemingly pacified by Harry’s answer. 

“When Daddy come back?” Grace quietly asked, having crawled into her mother’s lap, needing the extra comfort. 

“I should be back sometime in January, princess. So, I won’t be with you for the holidays, but I’m sure your mother and I will figure something out to make it special for all of us.”

They all sat in silence for a few seconds, trying to process everything. 

“We’ll miss you, Daddy,” Lauryn stated, crawling over her older sister to hug her father. 

“Yeah, we’ll miss you, Daddy,” Heather echoed, crawling across the sofa to join in on the hug. 

“I want hug, too!” Grace called out from her mother’s lap, not wanting to be left out. 

Within a matter of seconds the alpha had his arms full of giggling omegas. They squealed when he tightly embraced them, exclaiming that they were being crushed. 

“I love you all, too,” Harry gently rumbled, pulling his daughters closer as they snuggled into his secure arms. He released comforting pheromones that only alphas emitted—and only with their offspring—letting them know that they were loved and protected. 

Louis softly smiled, fondly watching the heartfelt interaction in silence from his end of the sofa. He had known that his daughters wouldn’t be too upset once they found out that their father was leaving, as it was in their omega nature to be calm, loving, and understanding.

Still, as tender and lighthearted as the moment was, the omega couldn’t help the dark thought that fleeted through his mind. That this moment could possibly be one of the last times his daughters would get to hug their father. 

He took a deep breath to clear his mind, not wanting to bring the mood down in any way.

Harry looked over at where his omega quietly sat and delivered a loving smile followed by a wink. “Gorgeous Omega. Care to join us?” 

His daughters all looked over at him with bright smiles adorning their faces. “Yeah, Mommy. Come join the hug!”

The omega chuckled, pushing himself off the comfortable sofa. “I suppose I have no choice.” 

They all made room for Louis to wiggle himself into the embrace. His daughters giggled as he placed gentle pecks to each of their small foreheads.

Louis and Harry affectionately gazed at each other with tender smiles. They didn’t need to verbally express themselves as every emotion they were feeling in that moment was freely flowing through their bond. 

They both felt content in being wrapped up with each other and their children. It reminded them that they would do anything for their family and that no matter what obstacles life threw their way, they would be alright in the end.

  
  
  
***

  
  


The following week passed by in a blur. Louis was busy trying to make sure that everything was sorted and taken care of around the house and in their personal lives before Harry departed. Harry spent the week going to multiple out-processing appointments and tedious briefings. Something he'd become very much accustomed to over his fourteen years in the military. 

Before either of them knew it the day Harry was to leave had arrived. The mated pair was silently laying in bed, wrapped up in one another when Harry received a text that his ride was waiting outside. 

“Tyrell said he’s here,” Harry quietly said, looking down at his sleepy omega that rested on his chest.

“Okay,” Louis mumbled, taking a few more needed seconds to listen to—and memorize—his alpha’s strong and steady heartbeat before he reluctantly moved to get up. 

They tried to make as little noise as possible as they made their way downstairs since it was 1:45 a.m. The alpha’s first flight was set to depart at three that morning, so he had asked his beta friend earlier that week if he wouldn’t mind dropping him off at the airport, as Louis had to stay home with the children and he didn’t want to catch any other means of transportation to get there.

The alpha’s only luggage was a large green military duffle bag and a medium-sized, black suitcase. He didn’t have to bring much as he would be spending the majority of his time in his uniform. 

He was currently dressed in his civilian clothes, a plain black shirt that accentuated his muscle definition and a pair of dark denim jeans. He wasn’t allowed to wear his military uniform until he reached Norfolk in Virginia where he would get on his flight at the naval base and proceed to his final destination.

“You have everything you need, Alpha?” Louis softly questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Harry looked around as they both stood at the front door, mentally checking to make sure that he wasn’t forgetting anything important. “Yeah, I’m sure I have everything.” 

“Okay,” The omega quietly replied, trying to keep his burning tears at bay. 

Not only could the alpha see how affected his mate was, but he could also feel it deep within his chest. “C’mere, sweet Omega.” 

Louis bit his lower lip to keep from sobbing, walking straight into his alpha’s waiting arms.

“You gonna be alright?” Harry questioned, feeling his spouse’s tears through his shirt where his face was buried against his chest. 

Louis nodded, wrapping his arms tightly around his husband’s middle. He leaned back, blinking up at his alpha with hot tears streaming down his face. “I’ll be fine. I do this every time. You should be used to it by now.” He huffed out a pitiful laugh, running his fingers over the metallic dog tags resting against Harry's firm chest underneath his shirt. 

Harry brought his hands up to cup his mate’s face, thumbing away the tears staining his lovely visage. “I know, baby. But it hurts me to see you hurting.” 

Louis could only shrug in response. 

The alpha placed gentle kisses all over his omega’s face just to get some sort of smile out of him, no matter how small. 

“I love you, Louis.”

“I love you too, Harry.”

They shared a brief but passionate kiss, Harry whispering in Louis’ ear a promise to return home safe, sound, and in one piece, before they pulled away from each other. 

The omega sadly watched as Harry gathered his luggage in one large hand while opening the front door with the other. Louis shut the door behind himself after they both stepped out onto the front porch. He waved at Tyrell when the beta rolled down his window to deliver the same greeting.

The alpha turned to face his omega once he had thrown his luggage into Tyrell’s backseat. Louis blew a kiss to his mate, softly smiling when Harry threw his hand into the air, pretending to catch it before bringing his closed fist to rest over his heart.

They gazed at each other one last time before Harry broke eye contact to climb into the black truck. Louis glumly watched as the vehicle drove down the extended driveway and turned onto the gravel road to eventually disappear into the darkness of the early morning.

He moved to sit in one of the white rocking chairs on the porch, releasing a heavy sigh as he plopped himself down. He stared at the dark wooden planks underneath his pink slippers for several minutes before burying his face in his hands to cry. 

He’d rather let everything out while he was outside so that he didn’t risk the chance of having one of his pups overhear him. 

He deemed himself okay and having had enough time to sulk after twenty minutes. He shivered from the cold Wyoming air breezing around him, pulling his pink satin robe closer to his body as he made his way inside his warm home. 

He quietly checked on each of his little ones after he made sure all of the doors were securely locked. Harry had said his goodbyes to the children Friday night, not wanting to wake them early the next morning. 

He’d especially taken his time saying goodbye to Noah, wanting to be the one to rock and sing the pup into a peaceful slumber that night.

The omega lay in their king-sized bed surrounded by Ginger, Cocoa, and Peanut after ensuring that all was in order. The dogs could sense that the omega was upset and wanted to bring him comfort in anyway that they could. Louis smiled at their much needed presence, giving soothing rubs to each of their fur. 

He reached over to retrieve his phone from the bedside table when it vibrated against the surface. A quiet laugh escaped him when he read over the sweet message from his alpha, moving to turn off both bedside lamps before laying down. He stared at his alpha’s message until his eyes burned from the lack of blinking. 

Louis grabbed a pillow from his husband’s side of the bed, deeply inhaling the calming scent. Harry had scented pretty much everything in the bedroom in hopes that it would put his mate at ease every time he stepped into the space. 

The omega thought that he was finished crying for the night, but was proved wrong as tears began to stream down his face once again. 

The dogs softly whined, shuffling closer to his body to try and console him.

Louis buried his face deep into Harry’s pillow, allowing the cushion to muffle the ugly sobs that wracked his small body. He continued to cry off and on until the rays of the early morning sun peeked through the curtains. 

He blearily blinked at the digital clock which displayed 6:55 a.m. not finding it in himself to feel embarrassed or pathetic at crying for so many hours.

Exhaustion suddenly hit him like a freight train and he prayed that he wouldn’t dream of anything but darkness as he drifted off into a restless sleep against his tear-stained pillow.

  
  
***

  
  


“Hello, beautiful.”

“Hi, Alpha.”

“How are you holdin’ up?”

A drained sigh crackled through Harry’s laptop speakers as he watched his omega give a tired smile before holding his hands up to the screen, wiggling all ten of his colorful bandaged fingers.

“I take it costume making is going well then?” He breathed out a laugh at Louis’ pout. 

“It’s going about as well as I thought it would go to be honest.” 

Harry watched in silence as Louis adjusted his laptop. The rustling of their bed sheets could be heard while the omega tried getting into a more comfortable position.

“There was a moment when I had finally found my groove. You know, trying to speed things along, and almost sewed right through my finger with the machine.” 

Harry winced at the gruesome mental image. “Jesus, Lou, be careful.” 

“Yeah, I know. Guess I got too comfortable with my amateur sewing skills. But I’ll be damned if I give up when I’m so close to the finish line.” They both laughed at Louis’ playful yet serious conviction. 

Harry gave a proud nod in approval at his mate’s determination. “You go girl.”

It had been three weeks since Harry’s departure. So far, he and Louis had been able to Skype at least three times a week. However, the alpha had recently informed his mate that, unfortunately, their Skype calls would soon become scarce. 

With this knowledge, Louis tried to milk their time together as much as possible. He didn’t particularly care about the topics of their conversations. He simply wanted the luxury of being able to talk to his husband and listen to his deep, calming voice, especially on days that were both mentally and physically draining for him. 

“Tammie helped a bit with Lauryn's costume and she's almost finished with Claire’s. So, I did two and a half out of four costumes by myself which I think is pretty good.” 

Harry smiled, remembering the day Louis had told him that he was going to sew together their daughters’ Halloween costumes from scratch.

The alpha had been a little wary about the task his spouse was trying to accomplish. The only sewing he had ever seen Louis do in their nine years of marriage was for small things like patching up a hole in his jeans or sewing on a button. 

He had asked Louis if he knew what he was getting himself into. To which the omega responded that, _no,_ he didn't, _but,_ he was willing to try and tackle the situation head on. 

Harry patiently listened while Louis filled him in on the progress he'd made since the last time they'd spoken. “I have to hurry and put the finishing touches on Grace's costume since Halloween is next week, but other than that everything is pretty much taken care of.”

Harry gave a soft smile at the heavily pixelated image of a knackered-looking Louis through his screen. “M' very proud of you, Omega.” Louis tilted his head slightly in a bashful manner, his face warming under his alpha's praise. “Our pups are extremely lucky to have you as their mother.”

The couple continued to converse for the next three hours, not wanting to end their time together, until Harry made the decision that he should let Louis sleep after noticing his omega’s sluggish blinks and constant yawning.

“Alright, sweetheart. It's time for you to go to bed. You look like you're about two seconds away from falling asleep on me.” 

The omega brought his hands together as he stretched his slim arms above his head, accompanied with a jaw breaking yawn. “I guess you’re right.” Louis glumly sighed, glancing at the digital clock to his right, letting him know that it was one in the morning on a Sunday.

“Didn’t realize how late it was,” Louis drowsily voiced. Harry could see that Louis was hesitant to end the call despite his enervated state by the way he failed to say anything further, and instead chose to silently pick at his manicured nails. 

“Get some sleep, gorgeous. We’ll talk later, yeah?” 

Louis glanced up at his screen with a small frown. “Yeah, okay. Enjoy the rest of your day, Alpha.” The omega gently smiled as he whispered, “Be safe.” 

“Always,” the alpha promised, mirroring his omega’s smile while matching his quiet tone. Harry hadn’t been put in any situations where his safety was compromised since his arrival in his deployed location, but he knew that was all about to change very soon. 

Of course he wasn’t going to tell Louis that tidbit of information, even if he was allowed to. The last thing he wanted to do was add on to his mate’s daily stressors.

“Love you, Lou.”

“Love you too, H.”

  
  
***

  
  


Halloween night found an animated Louis gushing over his four daughters, taking snapshot after snapshot of them dressed in their handmade costumes. “Oh, how cute!” Louis cooed, quickly going through the shots he had just taken on his digital camera. 

He leaned a little to his left to show Tammie the adorable photos. “Too cute! I really like that one,” she voiced, pointing to a shot of the girls sitting on the first two steps of the carpeted stairs with the three family dogs sitting on the floor in the front.

“Me too,” Louis agreed with a grin. He looked through a few more shots on his camera before turning his attention to the beta beside him. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me out. I really do appreciate it.” Louis was fully prepared to stitch his daughters' costumes together by himself, no matter how stressed out he would be in the end. 

However, Tammie had blithely offered to give Louis a helping hand after he had tentatively told her about his plan. Which was fortunate for Louis as she had way more experience with a needle and thread than he did, which wasn’t much to begin with.

The only reason Louis had gotten stuck with the headache of making Halloween costumes in the first place was because Heather had wanted to be a _bird,_ and subsequently complained that there were no bird costumes in the store. 

Why a bird? Louis still wasn't sure on the exact reason, but the duo had sat down together on a Wednesday night, trying to scour the web for a decent costume. Unfortunately for Louis, the only costume the four-year-old had shown genuine interest in was a DIY.

Of course, the omega just couldn’t help himself and had to extend the offer to make the Halloween costumes to the rest of his daughters, not wanting anyone to get their feelings hurt by feeling left out. 

They happily agreed but not without skeptically questioning their mother on his sewing capabilities. Louis waved them off telling them not to worry. That he could _definitely_ handle it and that he would have everything under control. 

He quickly realized his mistake after scrolling through several blogs and watching numerous how-to videos on what he was supposed to do. Needless to say, it was not a walk in the park for the frazzled omega. 

After going through two Barbie and Hello Kitty Band-Aid boxes, three and a half weeks of infinite internal screaming, four frustrated 30-minute crying sessions, and a much needed pep talk from an amused Harry, the self-imposed project was finally complete.

Louis hadn’t failed to let his pups know that they would be wearing their costumes for the consecutive five years, as he had invested too much time, money, and effort into making them for it to be a one and done thing.

Even though Tammie knew that Louis would have been able to finish all four outfits by himself, she was still happy to have taken an extra weight off of her friend’s shoulders by offering to work on Claire’s cow ensemble. “It was no problem, Louis. I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to help.” 

The beta diverted her attention to give an appreciative once over to the outfits she hadn’t worked on before focusing her dark brown eyes back on the omega. “You did an amazing job, Lou. They turned out beautiful,” she complimented, her voice sincere in its delivery.

With Louis being a self-proclaimed perfectionist it was no surprise that the costumes turned out as remarkable as they did. Sure, he nearly drove himself into an early grave in the process, but he wasn’t going to embarrass his pups or himself by letting them walk out of the house looking like a hot ass mess. 

Above all, his girls were happy with the end results and that’s all that truly mattered to the omega.

“Mommy, no more pictures please,” Grace softly whined. The two-year-old was getting restless from all the picture taking as she was excited to go to the Halloween carnival on base, but her mother was holding everything up by wasting the past fifteen minutes snapping needless photos. 

Louis laughed as he set his camera on the oak entryway table and carefully brought himself down to smack kisses onto his toddler’s round cheeks. “Alright, my little crustacean. I’ll let you guys get going,” he promised to her pouting face. 

To Grace’s annoyance the children, along with Tammie’s two boys, Isaiah and Caleb, were ushered out of the foyer and onto the front porch by the two mothers, who proceeded to take more pictures before they were _finally_ able to depart for the carnival. 

Louis chose to stay behind with Noah, not comfortable with taking his three-month-old to what would surely be a noisy and crowded public event. He gave a final hug and forehead kiss to one cow, one butterfly, one bird, and one crab before they all eagerly piled into Tammie’s silver Lincoln Navigator and drove away.

A sudden gust of cold northern air had Louis quickly retreating back into the inviting warmth of his house with Noah cradled close to his chest in his baby sling. He hummed a quiet tune to himself, kissing the top of his pup’s curly head and inhaled the infant's clean, soft scent, making his way up the stairs to his bedroom. 

The omega was aware that his husband was bothered by the fact that he couldn’t be physically present to witness and take part in their daily lives. Which was why Louis made sure to take plenty of photos and videos for Harry to enjoy and hopefully feel like he wasn’t missing out on too much.

Louis would upload the pictures he had recently taken to his private social media accounts for his close friends and family to enjoy. He even made sure to snap photos of Noah’s onesies that he had worn throughout the day that read: _I love my mummy,_ _Cutest pumpkin in the patch,_ and _My first Halloween._ Harry had told Louis to purchase the _I vant to suck your boob_ onesie and the only response he had received from his mate was an eye roll. 

Once Louis had entered the safe haven of his alpha scented bedroom he carefully took Noah out of his baby sling and gently placed him down in the middle of the king-size bed. He shortly joined Noah after discarding the sling to gingerly lie down beside his quiet pup. “Your sisters looked very cute tonight. Wouldn’t you agree?” he questioned in a soft tone.

Noah smiled and clenched his tiny fists, kicking his small legs out in excitement at the sound of his mother's voice speaking to him. “When you get a little bit older I’ll make you a Halloween costume too. Would you like that sweetheart?” 

The young omega let out a soft coo in response to his mother’s question. He didn’t know what Louis was saying, all that mattered to him was having his mother’s complete and undivided attention.

With a smile, Louis brought his face closer to Noah's to gently rub their noses together. “Yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you? My sweet boy.” He pressed a kiss to the smooth skin of his pup’s forehead before lying back down on his side.

Noah let out a quiet content sound when his mother started to gently rub his round tummy. “Maybe your father could help me make your costume? What do you think?” A frown formed on the three-month-old’s face as he started to make soft grunting noises. A resigned sigh slipped past Louis’ lips, watching his baby’s face turn red from straining. 

That was enough of an indication for the omega to know what would be waiting for him to clean up within the next five minutes. 

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


The Styles family usually spent their Thanksgiving morning or afternoon participating in an event that gave back to their local community in some way. Louis and Harry wanted to teach their children from a young age the importance of selflessness, and being there to readily aid and assist those in need.

This Thanksgiving Louis continued his volunteer services with Meals on Wheels America to provide hot and nutritious meals to vulnerable local seniors.

He brought along all five of his offspring to deliver the meals to the immensely appreciative seniors, and even hauled his pups out of the vehicle to sit and have a quick chat with a few of the elderly who would otherwise have spent their entire holiday alone with no social interaction.

It was not only in Louis’ omega nature to want to care and provide for others, but he also felt a calling to give back to the world in any way he could. His heart warmed each time he received a tight hug and a teary-eyed thank you from the people whose lives he had touched in some way, no matter how small.

After Louis spent the morning dropping off all of the meals he was assigned to deliver, he headed home to cook a small Thanksgiving lunch for himself and his children. There was a sense of uncomfortable despondency that was beginning to make an appearance around the kitchen table whenever there was a lull in the conversation. 

The omega tried his best to put on a happy face and keep the conversations light and playful as they ate their meal. Not having Harry around, especially during the holidays, was hard on the whole family. 

That’s why Louis made sure to maintain an upbeat and buoyant attitude around his pups even though he felt like he was slowly sinking on the inside.

It was after they had all finished laughing at an awfully corny joke that Claire had shared with the table, that said omega’s cheerful mood did an abrupt 180. “I wish dad was here. He would’ve liked that joke.” She huffed out a sigh, resting the side of her face against her propped up fist. 

Louis directed a small smile towards his dejected eight-year-old, reaching to his right to deliver gentle strokes to her silky brown hair. “Well, maybe you can tell him the joke when you talk to him later tonight?” 

The omega instantly perked up at her mother’s reminder that she would get the chance to talk with her father in the near future.

“Yeah, you’re right.” The bright smile on Claire’s face had Louis internally cooing. 

Once they were finished eating he brought his hands together in a single clap to gain everyone’s attention. “Now, who wants to help me bake some cookies?” he questioned, looking into each of his daughters’ eyes with a quivering brow.

“Me! Me! Me!”

“Oh, I do!”

“Me, too!”

“Cookies!”

Later that evening, the Styles family took their freshly baked cookies to the Moore’s house to have Thanksgiving dinner. Tammie and Tyrell knew how difficult it was not only for the children, but for Louis to not have Harry around. Which was why it had been a no-brainer to invite them over.

After spending a few hours at the Moore’s residence the girls were itching to get home to speak to their father. Louis had his laptop placed on the wooden coffee table in the living room and watched from his spot on the couch, stroking Cocoa's head that laid in his lap, as his pups eagerly talked to their father.

“Daddy, look what I drew!”

“Wow! You drew that?”

“Uh-huh!”

Harry hesitated for a moment before he decided to ask, “What exactly is it?” 

Heather pushed her purple glasses up the bridge of her nose and giggled as if her father had asked her the silliest question in the world. “It’s you, Daddy!”

The alpha squinted and leaned closer to get a better look at his screen. “Oh? Oh, yeah! That _does_ look like me,” he lied to his four-year-old with a grin. “Nicely done, cupcake.” Harry delivered his praise with a beaming smile and two big thumbs up. Louis shook his head, breathing out a small laugh at his husband’s commentary.

“Did you like what we put in your care package, Daddy?” Lauryn asked, nudging a pouting Heather out of the way so that she could be in front of the camera and have her father’s full attention. 

Harry smiled and reached to grab the open white cardboard box that was placed on the ground next to his feet before holding it up on display for all watching eyes to see.“I did, princess! I loved everything that was inside. Especially your letters.” 

The young omegas grinned, happy to know that their father enjoyed the contents of his package. 

This would be the alpha’s second care package from his family, as Louis mailed one off every month. He had received two separate packages from his parents, but they had specifically instructed him not to open them until Christmas. 

Since he was deployed to a Special Ops unit in a remote location the only food that he had access to was MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). So, you can imagine how appreciative he was to receive items like sunflower seeds, snack bars, ramen noodles, Gatorade, etc. 

It might not seem like a big deal to most, but Harry admired how the inside of the boxes were always decorated with a specific theme and how some of the contents correlated with said theme. For instance, the inside of the package that he had received in October was Halloween themed. 

He noticed that each time he received a new package his girls were responsible for drawing on—and decorating the inside of—the boxes’ four flaps, as they made sure to write their names on it. It was a detail that didn’t go unnoticed by the grateful alpha. 

The inside of his most recent package followed the exact same formula. It was adorned with stickers and pasted with cut out pictures that his pups colored on to fit the fall season. The front of their cards, including Louis’, was a colorfully painted handprint turkey. 

However, the real treat was written on the inside of the cards. The distinctive personalities of his daughters shone through based on what they decided to tell him in their letters. Grace’s letter was always a delight for him to read, with Louis taking the reins on transcribing exactly what the toddler wanted to say, unstructured sentences and all.

“Two more months and you’ll be back home,” Claire reminded her father. Not that he would forget such a thing as he’d been actively counting down the days ever since he had arrived at his deployed location.

“I know, sweetheart. I can’t wait to walk through the front door to hug and kiss my favorite omegas in the whole world.” He leaned towards his screen, bringing his left hand to the side of his mouth to whisper conspiratorially, “But don’t tell your mother I said that.”

“I heard that, Alpha.”

“And I meant it, Omega.”

Claire brightened after she and her sisters had calmed down from their fits of giggles, remembering another joke she had wanted to share with her father.

“Hey, Dad. I ordered a chicken and an egg online.”

She paused for dramatic effect, gauging her father's confused reaction.

“I’ll let you know.”

It took him a few seconds to understand the implication of the corny dad joke, but once he did he couldn't stop his laughter.

“I knew you’d like that one.”

“Yeah. That was a good one, Claire Bear.”

“Mom bought me a book filled with jokes, but I’ll wait until you get back before I tell you the rest.”

“That sounds nice, angel.” 

He truly couldn’t wait to get home.

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


“Oh Louis, he’s gorgeous! He looks just like you!” Louis’ mother gushed down to the wide-eyed five-month-old cradled snugly in her arms. “One could swear you made him all by yourself.”

“Well, I can assure you that his father definitely had a _big_ helping hand in making him.”

She lightly nudged him on the shoulder and they both quietly giggled at the implication behind his comment. 

Louis’ father walked into the sunlit sitting room holding a smiling Grace—who was happily munching on the homemade Rice Krispy Treat he had given her—before setting her wiggling body down so that she could run off to her mother.

“What are you two giggling about?” he questioned, perching himself on the sofa’s armrest next to his smiling wife. 

“Oh nothing, honey. I was just telling Louis how much little Noah here favors him.” 

He leaned slightly to his right to get a better look at his youngest grandchild. “That he does. Looks just like his mama. More so in person than on the pictures and videos.” 

He reached over to gently thumb at the baby soft skin of Noah’s tiny fist, sharp canines peeking out when the infant grabbed a hold of his finger and tried to place it in his toothless mouth.

Louis’ heart warmed at the sight of his parents finally getting the chance to lay eyes on and hold Noah in person, as they weren’t able to fly out to Japan in time before he and his family had to relocate to Wyoming. 

When his mother had told him that she and his father were planning to visit for the Christmas holiday through New Year’s her first request was that Louis promise to immediately hand over his little one so that she could make up for lost time through lots of cuddles and kisses.

Louis stayed true to his promise and greeted his parents at the front door with a toothy smile before handing over a squirming Noah to his teary-eyed mother. 

She had hardly set the pup down since her arrival a week prior, and frequently hesitated when she had to part with him to either hand him over to her husband—who rightfully wanted to spend time with his grandchild—or at the request of his mother—who only tried to asked for him when he needed to be fed.

The omega wasn’t put off by his mother’s tenaciousness and understood that Noah was the only grandchild she hadn’t gotten to physically hold within the first month of their birth. 

In fact, the only occupant in the house that seemed to be miffed by his mother’s doting was Grace who had gotten used to being the center of attention around her grandparents.

However, Louis’ father quickly picked up on the toddler’s perturbed facial expressions and subsequently decided to spend more time with her to compensate for his wife’s diverted attention.

“Have you spoken with your alpha recently?” his father asked.

The omega lightly shook his head, adjusting his daughter on his lap. “Not since the third.”

His mother looked upon him with sympathetic eyes, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that, sweetheart.”

“It’s fine, Mom. Really, it is. I’m used to it by now.”

“But still. I know the sporadic silence hasn’t been easy on you.”

“Yeah, but Harry warned me about it ahead of time so that I wouldn’t be caught off guard and start to irrationally worry.”

“Well, you let us know if you need us to stay until Harry comes back, because we will. Right, Alpha?”

The alpha’s eyebrows slightly furrowed at his wife’s comment, but he agreed with her nevertheless. “Uh, yeah. That’s right, honey. We’ll stay all the way until the _end_ of January if you need us to, Lou.”

“That won’t be necessary, but thank you for the kind offer.”

He tried his best to reassure his concerned parents that he was doing just fine, and he _was_ doing alright for the most part. He had only recently started taking his medication to alleviate the anxiety that he was starting to experience. Harry would be returning home next month and his inner omega was starting to get even more restless as the date neared. 

“Plus, we’re supposed to Skype tomorrow. I’d like to think of it as an unconventional birthday present.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful, sweetheart.”

His mother swiftly diverted her focus to the small child resting within her arms after he let out a loud cry. Both of his parents instantly stood up, peering down at the red-faced pup. 

“Is he alright? Does he need his diaper changed?”

“No, silly. That’s his cry when he’s hungry.”

“How do you know?”

“He’s been with me most of the time since we’ve been here. I’ve learned his cries by now.”

“Well, I could’ve learned them by now too if _someone_ wasn’t hogging him up all the time.”

Louis watched in amusement as his parents walked out of the sitting room, continuing to lightly bicker over their grandson. He huffed out a laugh and looked down at his daughter who was occupying her time by playing with her sticky fingers. 

“Oh, Grace. What am I going to do with your Grandma and Grandpa?”

She shrugged her small shoulders and giggled when her mother started to lightly tickle her tummy, delivering kisses to her face. She leaned back against her mother’s chest with a content sigh once her laughter had died down. 

“I love Mommy.”

Louis wrapped his arms around the small omega and gently squeezed her body close, nuzzling into the top of her head while breathing in her clean scent.

  
“Mommy loves you too, sweetpea.”

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


“Happy birthday, my love.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

“Did you get my present?”

The omega smiled with a nod, holding up the small, red box wrapped with a sparkly silver ribbon. “Yep, Tammie and Tyrell dropped it off on their way to the airport earlier this week.”

“I would ask you to open it but you seem to have your hands full.” Harry chuckled, watching his youngest pup quietly nurse from his mother who was propped up against the pillows of the bed. 

“That’s okay. I wanted to open it right before I went to bed anyway.”

Louis brought the box next to his ear and delicately shook it to try and gauge its contents. Only a disappointing rattle could be heard from his end. Neatly plucked brows knitted together in confusion and he gave a petulant huff before he asked, “What’s inside the box, H?”

“You’ll find out once you open it, Lou.” 

“Ugh, fine.” 

He decided to drop the subject, knowing Harry wasn’t going to give him any hints. Louis appreciatively eyed the way his alpha’s muscles bulged when he crossed his tan arms together. “It’s nothing big but I hope you’ll like it.”

“Of course I will.”

Harry hummed in response, blinking languidly as he quietly took in his omega through the grainy screen. They hadn’t spoken to each other since the beginning of December which had almost driven him insane, but he's had to keep a level head during his missions and block out his alpha that raged deep within.

“You know you could have left your present with me. I wouldn’t have opened it.”

“I’ve known you long enough to know how untrue that statement is.”

“So, you’re saying you don’t trust me?”

“I don’t trust you when it comes to not peeking at the presents I get for you.”

Louis tried to give his husband an offended look but it quickly dissolved into a smile, knowing his mate was right. 

The alpha asked Louis to tell him about how his parents’ visit was going and the omega happily obliged, delving into story after story about his clingy mother and overprotective father. The omega couldn't help but laugh as he told his mate about how his parents’ and pups' came up with the wackiest antics to ensure that he had a good birthday. 

Harry used the opportunity to sit back and quietly admire the beauty of his omega, listening to the soothing lilt of his voice.

God, how he missed Louis. 

January 22nd couldn’t come fast enough.

“We’ll talk again soon, Omega. I promise.”

“Okay, Alpha.”

“Happy birthday again, beautiful. Enjoy your present and I love you.”

“I love you too. We all do.”

“Enjoy your Christmas, Louis.”

“Enjoy your Christmas too, Harry.”

That night after everyone in the house had gone to bed, Louis sat in front of the brightly lit Christmas tree to open Harry’s present. He could hear the fire crackling to his left as the warmth radiating from the fireplace penetrated his skin to settle deep within his relaxed muscles.

He took some time to silently admire the heavily decorated tree, and glanced about the room to appreciate how festively it was decorated with the help of his family. Once he had soaked it all in he focused his attention on the dark red, velvet box placed in front of his criss-crossed legs.

Excitement and anticipation coursed through his veins as he gently tugged apart the silver satin ribbon that was wrapped elegantly around his present. He took a deep breath and held it, slowly opening the box to reveal what treasure lay hidden inside. An exhale left his body upon seeing a small folded note and he removed it to uncover a sterling silver, diamond encrusted, heart-shaped locket.

The locket was medium in size with tiny diamonds completely covering the front. The back was entirely bare with the exception of an engraved date. Upon closer inspection Louis realized that it was their wedding date. 

He was met with two images when he popped open the locket. The picture on the left side was one Harry had taken on their first date with both of them huddled unnecessarily close for two people who had only met a day prior. 

It showed Louis grinning up at the camera with his eyes squinted shut due to the sun being in his face, while Harry stared down at him with a lovesick smile. He gazed upon Louis as if he had brought life, light, and love to the entire world.

The picture on the right side was one the Styles family had taken shortly after moving into their new home in Wyoming. It showed the entire family smiling as they sat together on a blue blanket in the backyard. Louis and Harry sat on opposite ends of the blanket with the omega holding a two-month-old Noah and their daughters placed between them.

Louis gingerly thumbed at the words engraved on the inside of the locket that read, _“With love, from H_ . _”_

He placed the locket back inside the box and picked up the folded note that he had previously set aside. He smiled, silently reading over the note his alpha had written for him.

_To my dearest Omega,_

_I’m_ _sorry that I couldn’t be there with you to celebrate your 29th birthday, but I hope that you were able to find some joy in your present. The world was blessed with your birth on this day, December 24th, 29 years ago. Wow, 29 years old. You're slowly catching up with me. Ha! You're supposed to laugh, Lou. That was a joke. Anyway, you’re another year older and somehow you manage to look even more beautiful with each passing day. I thank my lucky stars every night that I was able to find such a wonderful person to spend the rest of my life with. Our children couldn’t have had a more loving mother. I genuinely could go on forever about how perfect you are, but I’ll save the sappy shit for our anniversary. This is all to say that I love you and I’m looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you. Happy Birthday, baby and Merry Christmas!_

_Love, H._

_P.S. There’s a hidden present for you tucked into the back of the closet in the downstairs guest room. It's underneath the pile of quilts. Don’t open it in front of the kids. Wink. Yes, I wrote out a wink._

Louis smiled as he brought the wrinkled piece of paper to his nose and took a deep inhale, as it held a trace of the rich pine scent of his alpha. He picked up the locket from the box and smoothly locked the back of the chain around his neck, so that it could rest comfortably against his chest. 

He gathered his belongings, moving to stand up and retire to his room for the night. He hadn’t forgotten about the second present from his husband, but decided to wait until the coast was clear before retrieving it due to his nosy parents occupying the guest room. 

Between his parents and pups having gone to great lengths to ensure that he would have an unforgettable birthday, and his mate’s beautiful—and what he was positive to have been extremely expensive—gift, he would truly have a reason to fall asleep with a smile on his face.

Louis honestly felt like he was the luckiest omega in the world. 

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


Louis’ inner omega became downright restless as soon as the new year began. He had to up his medication intake from once every twenty four hours to every four or six hours, just to placate his mind and body so that he would be able to focus throughout the day. 

This was not a rare occurrence as he always felt emotionally off-balance during the month Harry was to return home from his deployment, until he was able to physically see with his own blue eyes that his mate had made it back safe and in one piece.

However, despite feeling on edge, he also felt a sense of excitement. It had been a prolonged and emotionally draining four months for the omega, but those unpleasant feelings were shoved far into the back corner of his mind with the knowledge that he would soon be wrapped up in his alpha’s strong and protective embrace.

He spent the majority of his time cleaning and tidying up the house, as he would feel severely embarrassed if his husband were to return to an unkempt home. Modernists would scoff at the notion that he would worry about such things, especially when faced with the responsibility of taking care of five kids—all under the age of nine—and three dogs solely on his own. 

Louis was biologically wired to feel the urge to care for and satisfy his mate, but above all he wanted Harry to feel completely relaxed and comfortable when he stepped foot into his home after returning from a short but grueling deployment. Harry never delved into the specifics of what went down during his missions, as he legally wasn’t allowed to, but Louis could infer based on whatever vague information he was given that it wasn't a pleasant stroll in the park.

It was evident in the way Harry looked just a little more worn down each time Louis allowed himself to really assess his husband's physical appearance during their Skype sessions. Harry would skirt around the topic when questioned about his well-being and tell Louis that he was doing fine, but it was apparent to the concerned omega that that certainly wasn’t the case.

Nevertheless, Louis would give a tight-lipped smile and verbally accept his mate’s answer before moving on, not wanting to cause a needless argument. 

They went through the same tired routine whenever Harry was deployed. Louis would ask him if he was doing alright, Harry would lie and say yes, and Louis would begrudgingly accept his answer as he learned to pick up on his alpha’s social cues and back off.

Harry knew that his omega was highly perceptive and could easily tell that he wasn’t being truthful, but he didn’t want to fill Louis’ head with any additional worries—even though he knew that it wasn’t healthy to keep all of his feelings bottled up inside. Harry didn’t care if Louis became annoyed with his vague answers. He would do anything to keep his spouse’s sensitive mind ignorant to the horrors of modern warfare.

“Two more weeks and you’ll be home, Alpha,” Louis said with a wide grin.

“That’s right, gorgeous. Two more weeks and I’ll be back home with you, the kids, and the dogs.” 

The alpha heaved a great sigh just thinking about being back home with his family where all seemed to be right with the world. It had been an exhausting four months that had drained him both physically and mentally. 

Being the one to lead his team’s missions caused him a great deal of stress, and if anything were to happen to his men under his watch he would carry that burden with him for the rest of his life.

“I can't wait! I’m getting everything ready for your arrival and, of course, the pups are just as excited. They’ve been driving me up the wall lately asking when Daddy is going to return. I mean it's not like I have five different calendars spread around the house with January twenty-second circled in bright red marker.” 

A pleasant warmth spread throughout Harry’s chest at the knowledge that his children had missed him just as much as he had missed them. 

They tended to favor their mother more as he was the one who had stayed home with them from the time they were born until they were old enough to enroll in school. That’s not to say that he resented his pups for favoring Louis over himself. He would absolutely feel the same way if he were in their place. 

“Well, at least I know that you guys won’t forget about me.” The alpha chuckled at the affronted look that appeared on his mate’s face. 

“Of course not. Tammie said she’d watch the kids while I pick you up from the airport.” Louis smiled bashfully as his ears reddened, thinking about what the beta had proceeded to tell him. “She even offered to watch them for the weekend. Said that we would surely want some alone time to get reacquainted with one another.”

Harry slowly leaned closer to his screen with a raised brow and an attractive smirk, bringing both of his tan muscular arms to rest heavily on the makeshift desk in front of him. “Are you opposed to that idea, sweet Omega?”

Louis coyly shrugged as the redness from his ears quickly spread throughout his face at his husband’s question. “I told her that I’d think about it. But I don’t think it’ll be necessary, H.” He resisted the burning urge to roll his eyes at the look of utter disbelief shown on Harry’s face.

“And why not?”

“Because I’d rather you hold me than you know _what_ me.”

“'You know what me?' Really, Louis?”

“What? Is that so hard to believe?” the omega inquired with a cross of his slim arms.

“Uh, yeah. Because if my memory serves me correctly, each and every time I’ve returned from my deployments you couldn’t wait to throw me on the bed and beg for me to fill you with my 'big fat knot',” Harry stated with a shit eating grin. “Your words not mine.” He raised two large hands up in a mock surrender at his omega’s exasperated face.

“Look, asshole. I’ve never said or done such a thing in my life.” Louis gave an indignant huff at the sudden bark of laughter that filtered through his laptop speakers. “And even _if_ I had, am I not allowed to want my alpha to simply hold me this time around?” 

“But I can hold you and fuck you at the same time, Omega. I’m an excellent multitasker.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The mated pair quietly laughed, gazing at each other through their pixelated screens with soft smiles appearing on both of their faces. 

“I’d be more than happy to do nothing other than hold you in my arms if that’s what you truly wanted, my love.”

They continued to converse until Harry took notice of the unmistakable signs of a sleepy Louis. The omega had eventually maneuvered himself to lay on his side with his laptop placed on top of the plush pillow next to his head, and adjusted it so that his mate had a clear view of his face. 

The omega’s blinks were gradually getting drowsier, and some of his words had started to slur together, which gave an indication to the endeared alpha that his sleepy spouse would be knocked out within the next five minutes. 

“I’ll possibly be away for the next four to five days, so if I’m not on at my usual time, that’s why.”

Louis sighed and tiredly yawned out, “Okay, Alpha.”

“Get some rest, angel. You’ve had a long day.”

“Alright, enjoy the rest of your day. I love you.” 

“I love you too, beautiful. Sweet dreams.”

Harry was just about to exit out of his screen when the sound of Louis’ quiet voice had him pausing mid-click. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought that his mate was fully asleep, what with the way his eyes were fully closed and his breathing had evened out into a slow, steady rhythm.

“Promise me you’ll be careful and return home to me, Harry.” 

The words were uttered so lowly that the alpha would have missed it if he didn’t have enhanced hearing. It was hard for him to make such promises as more often than not he was put in intensely dangerous situations during his missions. However, he would crawl through hell and back if it meant he could return home to his family, and that was a promise he intended to keep. 

“I promise, Louis.”

  
  
  
***

  
  


It was 9:30 a.m. on a particularly cold Thursday morning when Louis received what he would later deem, “The Dreaded Call”. 

He had just returned home from grocery shopping after dropping his daughters off at school. He had needed to drive slower than normal to make it back to his house because the roads had frozen over with a thin layer of ice and the snow had started to flutter from the clouds a little faster, making it harder to see what was in front of him. It still made him terribly nervous to drive in such conditions despite being born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He had laid Noah down in the nursery for his morning nap and strapped Grace into her high chair, handing her a small purple bowl of chopped bananas, before he got to work unloading the groceries in the kitchen. He heard his phone vibrate from its place on the counter next to the sink, but decided to ignore it as he felt like whomever was calling would leave a message if it was important.

The notification sound letting him know that he had received a voicemail was what had caught his attention. He finished putting away all of the groceries before he allowed himself to check his phone, not wanting to get distracted. He didn’t recognize the number and assumed that it was another one of the numerous solicitation calls he received daily.

He was fortunate to have chosen to sit down at the kitchen table before checking his voicemail, or he would have surely dropped to the floor at the message that had been left for him. The military official who left the voicemail stated that her name was Chief Master Sergeant Wilkins and that she was calling from the Casualty Affairs Office to inform him about an incident that Harry had been involved in.

She didn’t provide any specifics on what exactly happened or if Harry was even alive, but she made it clear through her tone and words that it was urgent that he return her call as soon as possible. 

He took a moment to calm his nerves, not wanting his scent to distress Grace as he unstrapped her from her high chair and carried her into the living room to play with her toys. 

He turned on the TV, flipped the channel to a cartoon show for background noise, and kept a watchful eye on his toddler as he stood a good distance away in the living room entryway to return the chief’s call. He tried to focus on his breathing and had to wait approximately three rings before the line was picked up.

“Good morning, Casualty Affairs Office, this is Chief Wilkins, how may I help you?”

“H-Hi, this is Louis Styles. I received a message from you a few minutes ago asking for me to call you back. You wanted to tell me about an incident that my alpha was involved in.” It was hard for the omega to control the shakiness in his voice and he turned his back to his daughter to hastily wipe at the hot tears streaming down his face.

He could hear the shuffling of papers and the distinct sound of nimble fingers typing away on a keyboard before her soft voice filtered through the phone. “Ah yes, Omega Styles. I’m so glad that you were able to return my call.” 

She paused and Louis could hear more swift typing in the background before she continued on. “As I’m sure you’re aware from my voicemail, your alpha has been involved in an incident downrange that has left him in critical condition.”

Chief Wilkins went on to explain that Harry had been involved in an IED explosion that had left him completely unresponsive. To Louis’ relief she did state that he was alive, but based on the information she had been given over the last two hours his condition seemed to have deteriorated. 

She let him know that he is being treated outside of the combat zone in Germany and that they would hold him there until his condition improves. 

She informed Louis that she would be his primary point of contact and provide regular updates on Harry’s condition by phone until it was no longer necessary. They talked for fifteen minutes and she supplied the distraught omega with as many details about Harry as possible. 

She ended their call with a promise to reach out if she had any updates to provide once everything was said on her end, and once every question Louis had at the moment was answered.

Louis was dumped with a massive amount of information that he hadn’t even fully processed before he decided to call the one person he could think of that could bring forth some clarity on the situation. His mother.

He didn’t like to bother her while she was at work, but he knew that she would be in her office all day doing paperwork, and not occupied with arguing on her client’s behalf in front of a judge or jury in the courtroom. He was grateful when she picked up on the first ring, probably sensing that something must be wrong for her youngest child to be calling at that time of day.

Louis kept his voice low when he talked to his mother as he didn’t want to alert Grace, and immediately delved into the specifics about what had happened to Harry. She took it upon herself to take some of the weight off of Louis’ shoulders when she informed him that she would notify Harry’s parents, not wanting him to feel any more distress from repeating the same story over and over again.

Louis frantically whispered through the phone that he literally didn’t know what to do because he couldn’t drop everything and fly to Germany to be with his husband. 

His mother guided him through some deep breathing exercises over the phone and advised him to try and focus on what he had planned to do for the day prior to receiving the phone call. Since Louis couldn’t make the trip they both agreed that Harry’s mother would be the probable option to fly to Germany, and made a promise to call back later to check up on him before she said her goodbyes. 

The omega squeezed his eyes tightly together with his phone gripped firmly in the clammy palm of his right hand, counting down from sixty, before making his way to the sofa to contemplate his next options. To Louis’ relief, Grace continued to alternate between talking to her toys and watching TV, not paying him any mind.

He sat and mindlessly blinked at the glowing screen in front of him, wondering if he had jinxed himself and Harry in some sick, twisted way. He couldn’t imagine the pain his mate was going through and wanted so desperately to speak with him. But he couldn’t because his husband was across the world lying unconscious in some hospital bed in Germany while he was stuck in Wyoming. 

He grabbed the decorative pillow to his left and clutched it close to his chest, trying to fight the urge to rage-scream into it. He felt a wave of nausea wash over him—staring at the back of Grace’s brunette head—at the thought of how he was going to break the news to his daughters. 

They were looking forward to seeing their father after so long, excitedly making posters with the help of their mother to hang up around the house to welcome him back home. Some of the posters were already adorning the surrounding white walls of the foyer and Louis didn’t have the heart to take them down, wanting to remain optimistic for the future.

The omega would have to quickly come to terms with the reality that his alpha would not be walking through that front door next week like he had _promised,_ or anytime soon. If he would even return at all. 

He shot up from his place on the sofa with a hand pressed against his mouth, hastily making his way to the guest bathroom down the hall. The thought of Harry suddenly dying had him dropping to his knees to hurl the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl.

To make matters worse, he heard a light knock against the closed bathroom door before hearing a small, uncertain voice ask, “Mommy, okay?”

Louis tried to get his heavy breathing under control, clearing his burning throat before answering, “Ye-yeah, sweetheart. Mommy’s okay.” He reached a shaky hand out to flush the toilet. “I just needed to use the potty. Go back and play with your toys. I’ll be out in a minute.”

A relieved sigh left his mouth when he received an, “Okay, Mommy,” in response. The side of his head rested against the toilet seat and he began to silently cry, taking comfort in the fact that he had cleaned the toilet yesterday and no one had used it since. Small victories. 

The omega had experienced plenty of bad days throughout his life, but he couldn’t think of a single one that had rendered him mentally and physically exhausted before noon. 

This was officially marked as the _worst_ day of Louis’ life.

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


“Any good news?”

“Maybe.”

“Meaning?”

There was a brief pause before Louis heard a shaky sigh crackle through the line. “Well, there’s something you should know.” His hand started to cramp from how hard he was clutching his phone. “I wasn’t in the room at the time, but I was told that Harry woke up from his coma.” 

The omega didn’t allow himself to feel relieved at the news, sensing that there was more to be said. “One of the nurses found him awake, but when they went to check his vitals he started to have a seizure.” 

Louis could feel another dreadful headache coming on. “Doctor Nguyen said it was brought on due to a traumatic brain injury. They had to put him in a medically induced coma to help protect his brain so that he can hopefully make a fast recovery.”

Louis lay back against the plush pillows on his bed and rubbed the tips of his fingers into his throbbing left temple. It had been exactly one week since he had received the call about Harry’s incident and the alpha’s mother had immediately called Louis once she had been notified.

His mother-in-law had graciously offered to fly in from Tallahassee to take his place, but he'd decided to decline in the end. Of course he wanted to be there with his husband, but he made himself physically sick just thinking about Harry lying unresponsive in a hospital bed. 

Taking care of his children and dogs provided a much needed distraction from constantly worrying about his mate. 

He would no longer have that mental safety net that he was desperately relying on if he were to join Harry in Germany. All there would be for him to do is idly sit by Harry’s side and pray that his alpha didn’t suddenly flatline on him. He _really_ didn’t want to put himself through that kind of mental anguish. He felt that he was truly better off staying in Wyoming with his family. 

“Do they know how long he’ll be in the coma?” Louis tiredly questioned his mother-in-law.

“They said it’ll depend on how fast he’s progressing. If the swelling in his brain recedes they’ll try and lighten up the coma to see how he responds.” 

Louis felt somewhat at ease with that information. Harry wasn’t out of the woods just yet, but at least he could be brought out of a medically induced coma versus a natural coma. 

He took the phone away from his ear when he heard the notification bell go off letting him know that he had a voicemail. A message stating that he had a missed call from Chief Wilkins was displayed across his screen. She probably wanted to relay the same information about Harry that he was receiving from his mother.

“I guess that’s good news then.” 

Louis heard her softly hum in agreement before she continued talking, “Once H wakes up they’ll transport him to the hospital nearest to you. They’ll just have to make sure he’s stable enough to endure the trip.”

The omega blew out a puff of air and allowed his body to fully sink into the pillows against his back. He could weep at the thought of getting to see his alpha and would undoubtedly carry out the action once in his presence. “That’s amazing to hear. I really do hope that he’s able to quickly recover.”

“He will. He’s a fighter. Told me plenty of times that not even death could keep him away from his family, but especially _you.”_ A sad smile tugged at the corner of Louis’ mouth, thinking back on the many times Harry had told him the exact same thing. “He loves you so much, Louis. Never forget that. He’ll be alright in the end. You just have to keep thinking positively.”

Louis agreed that he couldn’t let the negative thoughts infest his mind. He had to remain optimistic in the face of opposition not only for himself, but for his children who would need his support once he decided to break the news to them. 

His pups thought that their father had needed to extend his deployment and Louis felt downright awful lying to them, but he didn’t want to worry them by dishing out the painful truth. He would tell them once he had the chance to physically see and converse with his alpha. 

“I’m trying my hardest to only think positive thoughts but it’s not always easy, y’know?” He released a shaky breath. “However, it does put my mind at ease knowing that he has you there with him.” 

And it really did. Harry’s mother had taken the first flight available out of Florida and flown all the way to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, which was the largest U.S. military hospital outside of the continental United States. 

It was a facility run by the U.S. Army where soldiers who were wounded in a combat zone were treated. Harry’s mother was allowed to stay with him due to Louis not being able to make the trip.

“I’m happy to know that my being here is giving you some relief.” Louis could tell that she was smiling based on the tone of her voice. He decided to end the call and let her get some rest after remembering that it was eleven at night in Germany.

“It’s pretty late where you’re at and I don’t want to keep you on the phone any longer.” 

“Alright, I’ll call you tomorrow and hopefully I'll have some more good news to share with you.” Louis quietly laughed at the loud yawn filtering through the receiver. “Tell my sweet little omegas that their grandma loves them so much, and give them lots of hugs and kisses for me.”

“I don't have a problem with that request. I’m sure my pups can't absolutely wait to receive even more hugs and kisses from me.” They both laughed knowing how his children would whine whenever he became overzealous with his affection. 

A beat of silence passed between the pair once their laughter had died down, before anything further was said. 

“It’ll be alright, Lou. I have a feeling that you’ll have Harry back home in no time.”

“Hopefully.”

“You will. Remember to take care of yourself and I love you. We _both_ do.”

“I love you guys, too. Kiss H goodnight for me?”

“Of course. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Talk to you tomorrow.”

Louis let the phone slip from his grip to soundlessly land on the comforter before he sat up from his resting place against the pillows to bring his knees to his chest. He wrapped his slender arms around the bony joints and rested the left side of his face against them, taking a deep breath in before closing his eyes to breathe one out. 

He reflected on all that had been said over the last forty-five minutes. The main thing that stuck with him was the possibility of Harry returning back to the states rather soon. He had lain awake each night, staring at the ceiling, hoping and praying that his alpha would pull through and not die on him. 

Lately, he'd been catching himself thinking about what his life would be like without Harry in it and in all honesty, it wasn't a life that he wanted to live. But he didn't let that pessimistic train of thought completely consume his mind and instead tried to focus more on the positives rather than the negatives.

Ginger had now joined him on the bed, dog tag jingling as she wiggled her way underneath his crossed arms to rest her head on his lap. She had been a continuous source of comfort for Louis over the last several days, sensing when he was feeling particularly low and needed a pick me up. 

He relaxed back into the pillows, stroking her brown fur, willing all thoughts to disappear from his mind for a few minutes. It was a technique he’d been using at least once a day where he would find a quiet place in the house to decompress, not think about anything, and simply exist for a brief moment in time.

He had started to slowly drift off to sleep when Noah’s shrill cry rang through the baby monitor, effectively shattering his glass house of tranquility. The unexpected noise jolted him back to the present and reminded him of the fact that he was still a mother with important responsibilities. 

Louis gently hushed Ginger when she started to softly whine at Noah’s distress, before he pushed himself off of the bed to tend to his upset baby. The German Shepherd obediently followed him out of the bedroom and into Noah’s nursery, lying down in front of the creme colored rocking chair that Louis occupied, and observed with unwavering eyes how easy it was for the small omega to mellow out at the sound of his mother's soothing voice.

Noah’s attention was fully on Louis, silently watching his mother quietly hum an old forgotten tune with adoring eyes. It was in these moments Louis would forget about all of his troubles, and focus on everything that was going right in his life. However, his mind would relentlessly tug him back to the very thing that he tried so hard to forget. 

His alpha, who was lying unconscious in a hospital bed on the other side of the world, thousands of miles away from him, fighting to survive.

  
  
  
***

  
  


It had been exactly two weeks since Harry was supposed to have returned home from his deployment. Two weeks that felt like two limitless eternities to a debilitated Louis.

He was mindlessly folding towels on the white granite countertop in the laundry room—the soft hum of the dryer putting him at ease—when he felt three quick tugs towards the bottom of his dark green skirt. He glanced down to find his four-year-old smiling and holding up his phone for him to grab.

“What is it, sweetpea?” he questioned, continuing his ministrations.

“It’s grandma. She wants to talk to you.”

He folded the last towel with a sigh before bending down to his daughter’s level. She used both of her small hands to steadily shake the device in her mother’s unamused face with a grin, wanting to let him know that there was someone waiting to speak with him on the other side. 

“Heather Michelle, what have I told you about answering the phone without my or your father’s permission?” he gently scolded, taking the heavy gadget out of her hands and frowning at the moisture on it. 

He grudgingly wiped at the residual water with his ankle-length, wool skirt. “And why is my phone wet?”

“You said not to answer if a stranger calls but grandma’s not a stranger.” She puffed out her chest with a toothy grin. “She’s my grandma!”

“And the reason my phone has water on it?”

She tilted her head in a bashful manner, crossing both of her short arms behind her back, twisting slightly from side to side. “Well, I may have spilled some of my water on the kitchen table.” She paused to fix her mother with an embarrassed smile. “Where your phone was,” she quietly confessed. “But I promise it was an accident,” she hurriedly stressed to her mother. 

He reached out to comfortingly rub at her arm with an understanding smile. “It’s alright, angel. Accidents happen.” 

“I guess I got too excited when I saw that grandma was calling.” Louis startled, eyes widening at the realization that he hadn’t answered the phone the entire time, quickly holding it up to his ear. “Oh my goodness. Hello?”

He relaxed at the quiet chuckle from Harry’s mother. “It’s alright, Louis. I completely understand.”

“Sorry about that. Hold on a minute.” He muted the call before fixing his daughter with a pointed look.

“Go finish cleaning up the water you spilled and ask your sisters for help, okay?”

Her purple glasses slid down the bridge of her nose with a vigorous nod of her head. “Okay, Mommy.” Louis gently pushed her frames back into place before she ran off to find her sisters.

The omega breathed out a laugh, shaking his head, and unmuted the call once he was alone again. “Alright, I’m back.” 

“Busy day?”

He hung his head with an exhausted sigh. “You have no idea.” He tiredly rubbed at the side of his pulsating temple. “Love ‘em to death but I can’t wait for them to go back to school.”

“I bet.” 

His girls had been out of school for four days due to a severe snowstorm and they weren’t expected to return until the end of next week. _Maybe_. So, he had to put up with four out of five pups who very quickly became restless having to stay cooped up in the house all day. To top it off, Peanut—their adopted, five-year-old American Pitbull Terrier—had been giving him hell as well. 

All of this wouldn’t have normally bothered the omega as much as it did, but the added stress from constantly worrying about Harry had made him easily irritated at the smallest inconveniences.

Louis swallowed the uncomfortable lump that formed in his throat before he hesitantly asked, “Is—Is everything, okay?” He heard her quietly laugh and instantly knew that all was well.

“Everything’s okay! Better than okay actually.” He held his breath, intently waiting for her next words. “Louis, he’s awake.”

Louis could actually cry at hearing those words. “Really?” he asked in disbelief. 

“Really,” she confirmed in a tender tone. 

Life had been exceptionally stressful for the omega ever since his husband’s hospitalization. The day after Harry had been put into a medically induced coma his heart had unexpectedly stopped and he'd flat-lined. 

His mother was with him at the time, sleeping off to the side in a reclining chair. The sound of her son’s cardiac monitor going off was what had yanked her awake, swiftly followed by the chaos of many doctors and nurses frantically rushing into the room.

She'd stood off to the side and watched in horror as the medical professionals administered CPR on her son’s lifeless body. A sympathetic omega nurse hastily ushered her out of the area and silently sat with her for the following forty-five minutes until a sullen-faced Doctor Nguyen emerged from the room.

She had certainly thought that Harry had died with how long it had taken to revive him, and that they were all simply afraid to tell her the grave news. Doctor Nguyen had sat in the seat next to hers and carefully explained that it had been an extremely close call for the alpha, but by some miracle he had pulled through. A “ _true_ warrior” she had called him.

Harry’s mother had hesitated to inform Louis about what had happened, but decided to call anyway, knowing that he would want to know about any updates on his alpha no matter how disturbing the news may be. 

She'd tried to keep her emotions in check, shakily explaining everything to her distraught son-in-law, but broke down in the end, crying out, “I thought we had lost him, Louis. I thought I had _lost_ my baby boy.”

Louis hadn’t slept a wink that night.

Fortunately, there hadn’t been any more unexpected curveballs thrown to Harry’s health since that enervative event. Doctor Nguyen had seen a great reduction to the swelling in Harry’s brain and decided to decrease the drugs and lighten the coma to see if he would come back. 

That was three days ago and now his mate’s mother was calling to tell him that Harry was awake and functioning. He couldn’t believe it. He'd wanted to remain optimistic, but he honestly hadn’t thought that something like this would be happening any time soon.

“That’s amazing. I-I can’t believe it.” Louis wetly laughed, wiping at his teary eyes. “How long has he been awake?”

“About seventeen hours now. It took him awhile to fully wake up, but he’s entirely coherent now,” she patiently explained. 

Louis wasn’t sure what else to say, mind still processing the news, but he was certain that he wanted to see his alpha. His Harry.

“Can you video call me? I want to see him.” The omega was desperate at this point to lay eyes on his mate. The long stretch of silence on the other end of the line confused him and he had to check to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. “Um, hello?”

“Louis, there’s something I have to tell you.” 

He frowned at the tone of her voice. “What’s wrong? Are you not allowed to make video calls over there?”

“No, it’s not that.” He could tell that she was struggling to find the right way to say whatever she was about to tell him. “Harry he—he doesn’t want to see you.” 

Huh? That couldn’t be right.

“He doesn’t want to see me?” Louis voiced in disbelief. 

“That was one of the first things I asked him and I was certain he would say yes, but he took me by surprise and said no.” 

Louis stood up from where he was crouched on the tiled floor and began to pace around the laundry room.

“I asked him to tell me why, but all he did was shake his head and say, 'No',” she explained with delicacy. 

Great. Louis had been driving himself into the ground worrying about his unconscious husband, only to have said husband refuse to see him once he gained consciousness. Just his luck.

“So, he doesn’t want to see me. Fine. Does he at least want to talk to me?” It was hard for him to keep the hurt from seeping into his voice. 

“He’ll come around, Lou. I’m not sure why he’s acting this way but he can’t avoid you forever.” She knew that her son was itching to see his omega but for one reason or another he wasn’t up for it at the moment.

“Since he’s awake they’re going to try and fly him out to Wyoming within the next two days. You’ll be able to see him real soon. Hopefully, he’ll have sorted himself out by then.” 

“Yeah. Hopefully,” Louis grumbled, still perplexed at the fact that Harry didn’t want to see or hear from him. Had he said or done something wrong that he wasn’t aware of? Was it because he wasn’t there with him in Germany? Yeah, maybe that was it. Otherwise, Louis had no fucking idea what Harry’s deal could be.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. But on the bright side you two will be reunited in a couple of days. You can give him a piece of your mind then.” Louis could only manage a weak, half-hearted laugh at her comment.

He stopped his pacing to lean his back against the countertop, a shiver zipping through his body at the coolness of the granite seeping through his shirt. “Please tell him that I love him. _So_ much. We all do. And that we can’t wait to see him.” _Even if he doesn’t want to see us,_ he bitterly thought.

“I will. And he loves all of you too, Lou.” The lack of response from Louis said a lot. “Just give him some time.”

They ended the call shortly after saying their goodbyes to one another. He became giddy at the realization that he would be able to physically touch and see his mate within the next few days, despite the alpha’s refusal to have anything to do with him.

It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, feeling sweet relief for a brief moment, only for it to be promptly replaced by something a hundred times heavier.

He knew just how stubborn Harry could be, and chalked his current attitude up to that flawed trait. Louis didn’t have much room to talk because he was just as stubborn, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself. Anyway, he wouldn’t let his husband’s sour mood squash his good one. 

His alpha would eventually come around, he would just have to give him some time and space like he'd been advised. Nonetheless, his inner omega was taking Harry’s refusal to see him as a direct rejection to him as a mate. 

He knew his husband didn’t truly feel that way though. It just wouldn’t add up. Maybe he was going through an emotional phase of sorts. After all, he had endured a series of traumatic events. Harry still loved him and he was certain of that. 

So why did it hurt so fucking much?

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


The air was chilly in the hospital elevator, causing Louis to sniffle and tug the heavy, royal purple peacoat he had on tighter to his body. He tucked his hands deep into the warmth of his coat pockets, anxiously rubbing them about. The elevator he currently occupied was mirrorless and he sent a silent thank you to the designers for leaving out that insignificant detail.

These days the sight of his own reflection had him hurriedly jerking his head away in revulsion. It showcased to anyone who cared to notice what he was genuinely feeling within. Exhausted, beaten down, and outright miserable.

He hadn’t gotten a decent night’s rest since Harry had left for his deployment and the effects of his poor sleeping habits were starting to slam into him several months later like a ton of solid bricks. 

For example, the slightest inconveniences would peeve him. Miniscule things that hadn’t bothered him in the past. Like having to repeatedly screw the cap back on Lauryn’s tube of toothpaste _every_ morning, or walking into a room to do something important and forgetting why the hell he was even there in the first place.

But he never took his frustrations out on those around him. That wasn’t in his nature and he would never forgive himself if he lashed out on impulse. Instead, he kept his ill emotions corralled inside to later release them in the form of stinging tears, bawling into one of his alpha’s pillows late into the wintery nights.

Alphas would naturally gravitate towards Louis whenever he went out in public. It used to be because of his pretty face, curvy body, and intoxicating scent. Now, it was due to him reeking of a distraught omega, scent so strong that any nearby alpha would have to fight the emotional pull that screamed at them to go and bring comfort to an omega in need.

With that being said, his mood had immensely improved over the last forty-eight hours. The day after Harry had regained consciousness he had been flown from Landstuhl to the nearest hospital in Sheridan that could provide him with the necessary medical care that he would require.

Louis was relieved to know that Harry’s mother had been permitted to stay with him during the entire trip. He would have felt guilty if Harry had been by himself the whole time. Three days had passed since Harry had awakened from his coma, and now that he was in Wyoming, the omega would finally have the chance to see him in the flesh. 

He hadn’t had much time to speak with his mother-in-law during her trip from Germany, but he didn’t fail to ask if his husband had had a change of heart. She'd solemnly told him that her son still felt the same, but once they had landed and gotten settled in the hospital she eagerly called to let him know that Harry was ready to see him. 

The hospital was a forty-five minute drive from his house, but Harry’s mother had fervently offered to stay and watch over her grandchildren while he went to visit his mate.

His pups were still unaware of their father’s condition, but the omega planned to tell them after speaking with Harry. They had started pestering Louis constantly about when Harry would return, letting the older omega know that they hadn’t forgotten about their dad. 

Louis clicked the heels of his black snow boots together in a steady rhythm, anxiously waiting to reach the eleventh floor. He kept going over what he was going to say to Harry during his drive to the hospital, but none of his lines felt genuine. He decided to wait until he was with his husband and let their conversation take its natural course. 

He was shaken out of his thoughts at the beep letting him know that he had reached his destination, followed by a soft jolt, before the metallic doors slid open. The omega took tentative steps until he was outside of the elevator and onto the quiet floor that housed his mate. 

Immediately he began to search for Harry’s room number, having to stop at the nurse’s station to meekly ask for directions after going in circles, before he eventually stood in front of door 1122. 

He didn’t know why he was so hesitant to knock. It was only Harry after all, and it wasn’t like he was surprising the alpha. Harry had been informed by his mother before she left that Louis would be showing up around this time. 

Maybe he was nervous because his alpha hadn’t initially wanted to see him and therefore it was always a possibility that he would revert back to his previous feelings. But he wouldn’t let fear hold him back from what he wanted most in that moment.

Louis gave three soft but swift knocks to the door with his black gloved hand. A beat of silence passed before he knocked again, this time more firmly. He pressed his left ear against the dark brown door to try and listen for any sounds of life.

When he didn’t hear any noise on the other side he double checked to make sure that he had the correct room number before pressing down on the metallic knob, gently pushing the heavy door open to step inside.

The first thing that registered with him was how big and open the room was. It all looked so modern and high tech, not to mention _expensive._ A room like this probably cost way too much money for him to even want to think about, but he was sure that Harry’s mother had pulled some strings to get her only child into this private space.

He took further steps into the room, admiring the massive flat screen tv in awe and peering up at the billowy clouds through the skylight, before his attention shifted downwards to the person occupying the bed. 

And there he was. 

His Harry.

The alpha’s eyelids were closed while light snores left his body indicating that he was fast asleep. 

The omega cautiously approached the foot of his mate’s bed and stopped once he felt the front of his thighs press against the railing. He breathed out a quivering breath and stared at the man in front of him. 

He had already been informed that Harry had suffered extensive third degree burns from the explosion, most notably on his face. So he wasn't overly surprised to see that the alpha’s entire head was wrapped in a thick layer of gauze. The only parts of his face that could be seen were his eyes, nose, and lips. 

Louis warily moved from where he stood to get a closer look at his husband. Upon further inspection, he noticed that there was more gauze placed along the right column of Harry’s neck that disappeared underneath his light blue hospital gown. Large portions of his right hand and wrist had been severely burned and Louis grimaced at the angry, red skin out on display.

It looked so painful. Louis wasn’t prepared to see what Harry’s face looked like if it was in a similar state to the marred skin on his uncovered hand. The omega pulled his gloves off to stuff them into his pockets before reaching out a trembling hand to touch the unmarked skin of his mate’s left arm. A quiet whimper escaped past his lips and tears began to stream down his face upon feeling the warmth underneath his cold fingertips.

He'd had dreams of himself being in a similar situation to this one, except those dreams would habitually bleed into nightmares, leaving him standing over a midnight black casket, staring down at the pale, lifeless body of his deceased husband.

Cerulean eyes promptly scanned the room and stopped their search once they found a lone chair pushed into the opening of a built-in desk near the window. He pulled out a small, rainbow colored packet of facial tissue from his pocket to dab at his teary eyes, walking over to the desk to slide the navy blue chair over to Harry’s bed. 

Once comfortably situated next to his alpha’s side, he gingerly grabbed a hold of his left hand and thumbed over the healed cuts on his knuckles. 

The lights were off and the blinds closed, so the main source of light was coming from the skylight above Harry’s bed. An old episode of _Jeopardy_ could be heard quietly playing up on the television, creating a calm environment that would put anyone in the room at ease.

Louis alternated between bringing his mate’s hand up to his lips—delivering fleeting kisses to the flesh, and deeply inhaling the rich pine scent that he’s missed so dearly—and wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand while blowing his red nose into a tissue. That pattern continued on for the subsequent thirty minutes until the napping alpha began to stir awake.

The soft smell of apples filtered up through Harry’s nostrils once he regained complete consciousness back into the world. He could instantly recognize who the fruity redolence belonged to even if it was mixed into a sea of a million different scents. It was the smell that represented everything good in his life. It was the smell of home. His mate. His Louis.

He took short sniffs of the air around him while languidly blinking the sleep from his tired eyes. He thought he might have been hallucinating about his omega again, feeling sluggish from being regularly doped up on pain medication, but when he turned his head slightly to the left his eyes landed on a heavenly sight that he had spent many nights dreaming about.

“Louis.”

The omega hadn’t realized that his body was so tense until he immediately relaxed at the sound of his name coming from Harry’s deep, scratchy voice. Louis gave his alpha’s hand a tight squeeze and the waterworks instantly started back up. “Well, hello there sleepyhead. Long time no see.”

It was eating Harry up knowing that he couldn’t pull his emotional omega into his lap and comfort him in the way he knew Louis needed. He wanted to desperately shake his hand out of Louis’ surprisingly hard grip and wipe away the tears staining his mate’s face. “Damn. I look that bad, huh?”

Louis shook his head and used his free hand to reach for the crumpled tissue wedged between his jean clad thighs. He wiped at the underside of his nose and reassured his husband stating, “I’m happy that I finally get to see you. _Alive.”_

The alpha felt guilty knowing that he was the source behind his mate’s pain. He had made a promise to Louis to stay safe and had broken it. One might say that it wasn’t his fault; that he couldn’t have predicted that something like this would ever happen to him. But Harry didn’t see it that way and would carry the emotional burden with him for the rest of his life. 

“I’m happy to se—” Harry’s sentence was cut off by a burning cough, throat feeling like it was lined with sandpaper. Louis swiftly rose from his seat to pour him a cup of water from the pitcher on the nearby tray and handed it off to the alpha.

“Thank you, Omega,” he croaked out. 

Louis waited patiently for his husband to hydrate his dry throat and silently offered to take the paper cup from him once he was finished. He grabbed hold of Harry’s large hand after he had sat back down and took in the way his alpha’s eyes fluttered shut at the feel of soft lips on his skin.

“I missed you so much, Alpha. You have no idea,” he quietly mumbled the words against the back of his husband’s hand.

“I missed you too, baby.”

The alpha finally decided to shake his hand out of Louis’ rigid grip and lifted it up to cup the side of his omega’s face. It had been too long since he had been in Louis' presence and he wanted to soak in all of the tiny details of his spouse's face that he had missed. 

Harry noted how tired Louis looked as he gently swiped his thumb over the darkened skin underneath his closed eyes. His face seemed to have gotten thinner, not drastically, but enough for Harry to know that Louis hadn’t been eating like he should. The omega’s skin was cold and dull, having lost its glow and radiance that it usually held even during the winter months. 

He glided his fingers over Louis' thin, chapped lips, no doubt due to a combination of the weather and teeth constantly gnawing over the delicate skin. He delivered a mild pinch to his mate’s red nose and tapped it twice with his index finger after hearing his sweet giggles.

Harry thought that Louis still looked as beautiful as ever despite his knackered appearance. Now that the alpha was back he would do everything in his power to make sure that his omega received the proper care he deserved. “God, did I really miss you, sweetheart.”

They quietly conversed with one another for the next hour, only stopping when a nurse would pop in to check on Harry. Louis made sure to keep their conversations light by avoiding asking questions about the explosion. Instead, he filled his mate in on all that he’d missed since they’d last spoken at the beginning of January. 

Although Louis wanted to keep the mood cheerful, there was one thing weighing heavily on his mind that he just had to ask his alpha about. The one thing that greatly hurt him and had his inner omega crying out in anguish.

“Harry, can I ask you something?” They were back to holding hands again and Louis continued on with his question after receiving a single nod along with a reassuring squeeze to his hand.

“After you woke up why didn’t you want to see me?” He slid his gaze down to their interlocked fingers, finding it hard to hold Harry’s intense stare. “I’m not gonna lie, that really hurt me.”

Harry’s chest tightened uncomfortably at Louis' words, but he wouldn’t avert his eyes to anywhere else in the room, wanting his omega to know how sincere he was in his apology.

“Omega, look at me,” he gently demanded, and only continued speaking once he had Louis’ undivided attention. “I’m truly sorry that I hurt you. I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time and I guess I didn’t realize how much it would affect you.” He brought their connected hands up to his lips and placed a loving kiss on the backside of Louis’ hand.

“Baby, it wasn’t that _I_ didn’t want to see _you._ It was that I didn’t want _you_ to see _me.”_

Realization dawned on the omega before he could question his mate further. “Oh,” he quietly whispered, followed by Harry’s equally quiet,“Yeah.”

“I left my family as a strong and healthy alpha. Now, I’m returning to them as a burned and broken man.” Harry unlocked his ashamed green eyes from sympathetic blue ones. “I was embarrassed. Still am. I was trying to put off our inevitable meeting for as long as I could.” He huffed out a humorless laugh. “Shitty, I know. But that’s where my headspace was at the time.”

Louis listened to Harry’s explanation with open ears and an understanding heart. He hadn’t taken into account that his alpha could be feeling insecure about his injuries. 

Harry prided himself on always being able to support and take care of his family. Even though he still had all of his limbs intact, the permanent scars littering his body would forever serve as a disturbing reminder of how he had almost lost it all.

“Alpha, I get it now. I do.” The omega rapidly blinked away the sting from his eyes. “Just know that you don’t ever have to feel like you’re alone in this. I can’t say that I understand what you’ve been through or what you’re currently going through, but I want you to know that I’ll be with you every single step of the way from here on out.” 

Harry smiled as best as he could, bringing his omega’s hand up to his nose and breathing in the fruity scent. 

“Me and you against the world?”

“Me and you against the world.”

  
  
  
***  
  
  


“I know you all are excited to see your dad but remember, no shouting. Use your inside voices when you talk to him, okay?” 

Louis smiled when he received a positive acknowledgement from each of his daughters. It had been a week since Louis had first visited with Harry and six days since he had sat his children down and told them about what had happened to their father. He didn’t delve too much into the specifics and simply let them know that Harry had been badly injured and would be recuperating in the hospital until he was cleared to leave. 

They were all upset but remained understanding of the situation and eagerly followed up their mother's explanation with questions on when they could see their father. Harry talked with them every night over the phone before they went to bed, but they were yearning to see him in person. Louis visited his alpha every day and asked him if he felt comfortable with having the children tag along with him. 

Initially, Harry was hesitant to accept, but relented after all four of his daughters banded together to cutely plead with him over the phone. He had suspected Louis was behind the whole ordeal, but he never stood a chance against his little omegas in the first place. 

Nevertheless, he quickly retracted his offer to see his pups once the nurses had removed the gauze and he had the chance to get a good look at his face for the first time. Louis was with Harry at the time his bandages were removed and was the first of the two to see how extensive the burns were. 

The skin on the left side of Harry’s face had started to peel in large portions similar to if he had gotten an extremely bad sunburn, but that was the extent of the destruction, and no scarring would be left behind. The right side of his face had been severely burned and showcased his permanent disfigurement for all to see. His ear had taken the brunt of the flames and burned completely off, not leaving behind a hint of cartilage. 

It was as if an invisible line had been drawn down the middle of Harry’s face with only the right side set on fire and the scorching hot flames put out once the damage had been done. The skin on the right side of his neck and upper shoulder were in a similar state, but the scars would be easier to hide from intrusive eyes. Louis swallowed down a gasp and tried hard not to cringe knowing that his husband’s eyes were on him. 

Harry still noticed the subtle ticks of his mate’s face and furrowed his nonexistent brows at Louis’ poor excuse of a reassuring smile. “Now Harry, don’t freak out. Everything will be alright,” Louis had shakily told him, attempting to pacify his worries. 

Usually when someone says not to freak out it warrants cause to freak out, and everything most certainly was _not_ alright. 

When Harry saw his reflection in Louis’ circular compact mirror he felt the strong urge to scream. So he did. The worst part about the situation was that his right leg was broken, so he couldn’t run and lock himself into the bathroom, away from prying eyes like he so desperately wanted to. 

It had taken a hell of a lot of convincing on Louis’ part to get Harry back on board with letting his children come over to visit him. The alpha’s main qualm being that he didn’t want to terrify his pups with his face. That had been four days ago, and now—with Harry’s consent—Louis was on his way with his daughters in tow to see their father.

The young omegas were bouncing with excitement at finally being able to see their dad after so long, but their mother reminded them to keep the volume of their voices at a normal level. Harry had become particularly sensitive to loud noises which hadn't bothered him before, but being on the receiving end of a massive IED explosion would do that to a person.

“Do you think Daddy will get me the kitty I’ve been wanting?” Lauryn questioned over her shoulder, walking ahead of her mother. 

“I think he’ll get you a stuffed kitten, but don’t set your hopes too high on getting the real thing, Lauryn Michelle.” The six-year-old crossed her arms over her chest and pouted at the high probability of receiving a fake kitten over a real one. 

“I get kitty, too?” Grace asked, peering up at her mother with wide green eyes that were so much like her father's it made Louis’ heart melt. 

“Maybe. You’ll have to ask your dad and see what he says.” 

Grace quietly cheered knowing that her father tended to buy her the things she asked him for. Louis walked behind Claire and Lauryn—calmly directing his two eldest on where to go—while Heather and Grace were holding on to each of his hands. 

They all stopped once they reached Harry’s door and patiently waited for further instructions from their mother. “Do you want to knock, sweetheart?” Louis softly questioned down to Grace, tilting his head in a jerky motion towards the door in encouragement. She eagerly nodded her head—pigtails bouncing with her enthusiasm—and let go of her mother's hand to deliver three light knocks. 

“Daddy, we here,” she softly called out, pressing her little ear up against the brown door to listen for any sounds on the other side. She pulled back and grinned up at her mother and sisters, lightly bouncing in her pink and white Minnie Mouse snow boots after she heard her father give permission to enter. “He said come in!” 

Louis chuckled at her excitement and pressed down on the door handle to slowly push open the door.

The lights were shut off but the blinds were open, allowing some much needed natural light into the room. Louis gently ushered his girls further inside until they were able to spot their father. “Daddy!” Grace and Heather shouted at the same time, but quickly covered their mouths with wide eyes, remembering their mother's words about keeping the volume of their voice low.

Harry wasn’t bothered and found it cute that his daughters were trying their best to be considerate. He delivered a nervous wave to the occupants of the room instead of hiding underneath the covers like he wanted to. “Hello, little omegas,” he softly greeted.

All four girls shuffled over to their father’s bedside with wide eyes, soaking in his appearance. The last time they had seen him was behind a heavily pixelated screen, happy and free of burns, so it was understandably shocking for them to see him in his current state. 

“Whoa, what happened? Ow!” Lauryn rubbed her arm in the spot where her older sister's sharp elbow had jabbed her. 

Claire fixed Lauryn with a pointed look and said, “Be nice.” 

Lauryn huffed and mumbled, “I am being nice. I was just asking.”

“Claire Elizabeth, do _not_ hit your sister.” Louis came up behind the two siblings and bent down, sternly whispering into their ears to behave. 

Harry huffed out a laugh at his pups and reassured them that it was okay with him to ask such questions. “It’s alright, Claire. I don’t mind.”

Heather walked around the bed to Harry’s right side and closely inspected his injured hand. “Does it hurt?” 

Harry answered her question with a nod. “Yes, it does, cupcake. But it’ll heal in its own time.”

“I see too!” Grace called out, quickly moving around the bed to Heather’s side. The alpha lifted his hand for his youngest daughter to see. “Oooh.”

Harry fidgeted with his hands, feeling uncomfortable with so many eyes focusing on his scarred face. “This is how I’m going to look from now on. I hope that’s okay.” He looked around the bed and was relieved that he didn’t find terror or disgust reflected in any of his daughters' eyes. “If it bothers you I can wear a paper bag over my face for the rest of my life.” 

Louis frowned upon hearing his husband's comment, but it seemed to have gotten a giggle out of their daughters. 

“No, Daddy. You don’t need to do that,” Heather stated, with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, it doesn’t bother me.”

“Me either!”

Grace called out her agreement as well and tugged on her father's blanket through an opening in the bed rail to gain his attention. “Daddy, I sit with you, please?” 

The alpha looked at his omega for an answer and received a shrug in reply. “Yes, pumpkin. You can sit with me.”

Louis helped his daughters out of their winter gear and gently lifted each of them up to place them on the bed with their father. The hospital bed was wide enough to comfortably fit Harry, along with two pups sitting on either side of him.

Louis neatly laid their clothes on the couch that was placed underneath the window and lined up their snow boots in a neat row off to the side. He took the remote and flipped through the channels until he found a movie playing that involved animated farm animals. 

Harry sat contentedly once all of his daughters had joined him on the bed, and silently listened to them talk about any and everything they could think of. He didn’t mind one bit and wanted to cry in relief at how accepting they were of his physical appearance. 

He had been waking up each night in a cold sweat and sobbing, remembering how his children had screamed in terror at the sight of his face in his dreams.

Thankfully, that wasn’t his reality. His reality was a hundred times better because his children didn’t seem to be bothered by his scars, snuggling up as close as they could get to his body. Louis watched his alpha and pups with a soft smile on his face. He knew that Harry was insecure about his appearance, but Louis hadn't ever felt the need to become anxious about how his children would react.

“We missed, Daddy,” Grace quietly said, blinking up at her father. 

A pleasing warmth spread throughout Harry’s chest and he placed a kiss on top of his toddler’s brunette head. “I’ve missed you guys too, princess.”

“You don’t have to worry about staying in the hospital anymore because we can take care of you at home!” Heather gave a toothy grin when all of her sisters agreed with her statement. 

“Is that so?” 

“Uh-huh.”

“Well then, I can’t wait to go home and receive the best care from the greatest omegas in the entire world.” The little omegas giggled when their father wrapped his strong arms around them and hugged them close. 

“I love you all, so much,” Harry mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut and hugging his daughters closer to his body. 

“We love you too, Daddy.”

Louis watched the sweet interaction from his place on the couch with teary eyes and a hand placed over his heart. This would be one of those memories that he would never forget, and he wasn’t concerned about the future with a family like his. They would all come together and be there for Harry whenever he needed them. 

Louis and Harry had raised their children to be loving and accepting of others for their differences; teaching them that being different was what made everyone on the planet beautifully unique. That outlook on life might seem cheesy to some, but the couple never had any problems with their daughters being disrespectful. 

Lauryn wiggled out of her father's embrace when she remembered to ask him a _very_ important question. She blinked up at him and sent her best puppy dog eyes his way. “Daddy?” 

The alpha looked down at his daughter, already knowing that she was about to ask him for something. “Yes, angel?”

“Since you love me, can I have a kitty?”

“Sure!”

The six-year-old gasped, not expecting for her father to agree so easily. “Really?!”

“Yeah, why not.” He grinned down at all of his girls. “You can all have one if you want.”

“Yay! I get a kitty!” Grace clenched her tiny fists and threw her small arms up in a cheer. “Mommy, hear that? Daddy get us a kitty!”

Louis leaned back against the couch, crossing his arms and quirking a brow at his mate. “I heard, sweetpea.” 

Harry smirked, sending a wink to his amused omega. 

“Now, the only thing you’ll have to tell me is if you want your kitten plastic or stuffed?”

  
  
  
*** 

  
  


Harry was cleared to leave the hospital two weeks later. Louis volunteered to drive him home while the alpha’s mother stayed with the children. It was quiet for most of the drive, only brief comments about the weather or something interesting that caught their eye along the way were made.

Louis could see that Harry was starting to get antsy in his seat once their vehicle turned down the road that led to their house. Once Louis pulled up to the front of their home he shut off the engine, unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned in his seat to face his husband. 

Harry didn’t move and stared straight ahead, the only indication that he wasn’t in a complete trance being the way he anxiously rubbed his thumbs back and forth against the side of his index fingers.

“Harry,” Louis softly voiced, carefully placing his hand on the alpha's forearm. Harry rapidly blinked as if he was being pulled back into reality and looked down at the hand resting on his arm, reaching over to give it a tender squeeze before letting go. “You ready?” 

The alpha nodded his head at his mate's question. “Yeah, I’m ready.” 

Louis pressed a button to open the trunk and hopped out of the vehicle to grab Harry’s crutches. The driveway and front entrance had been salted, but Louis parked as close as he could to the front of the house so that Harry didn’t have to hobble very far. Louis helped Harry out of the SUV and made sure the alpha was stable on his crutches before letting him make his way to the front door on his own.

The alpha looked at his omega in confusion when he was stopped from pushing down on the icy cold doorknob. “They’re all waiting on the other side of this door to welcome you back home,” Louis whispered, condensation leaving his mouth in a cloud of smoke. “I wanted you to be aware so that there were no surprises.”

Harry really didn’t care. His face had started to hurt from the cold, it was becoming increasingly uncomfortable to hold his bulky weight up with the crutches, and he just wanted to hurry up and get inside the warmth of the house to lay down on the couch. “Got it. Now, can we please go in? I’m freezing my bits off out here.” 

Louis removed his hand from the top of Harry’s with a sheepish grin. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

Louis motioned for Harry to open the door and called out, “We’re here!” 

The pair were greeted with a chorus of, “Welcome home!” from the occupants of the house and Harry could see that homemade banners had been hung up around the foyer. He was appreciative of the effort that they had gone through, but he really needed a long nap.

Louis tried to be of assistance in getting Harry through the entrance, but was shrugged off. A cold breeze blew into the house and the omega swiftly closed the front door once his husband had made it safely inside. 

Harry’s mother had a happy seven-month-old Noah placed securely on her hip and his daughters were lined up in the front, holding up their own miniature homemade posters. Harry could see that there were red lines crossed through some of the words on Grace and Heather’s posters, indicating that there were spelling errors, but that’s what made it all the more endearing. 

“Wow, you guys really went all out.” Harry moved further into the house, looking around at all of the banners on the wall. “This really means a lot to me. Thank you.”

Louis noticed that Harry was getting tired by the way his arms shook with the effort it took to hold himself up and decided to speed things along. “Alright everyone, let your father sit down and then you can talk to him, okay?”

They all moved out of the way for Harry to make his way into the living room to sit down on the couch. The alpha set his crutches off to the side of the sofa and let out an extended exhale, sinking back into the comfy cushions. Ginger and Cocoa curiously sniffed around Harry before they recognized his scent and went to lie down in front of his feet. 

Louis had taken Noah from Harry’s mother and walked into the room to stand in front of the resting alpha, gently bouncing the small pup in his arms. “Noah, do you see Daddy? Huh? Do you want to say hi to Daddy?” 

Harry was most nervous to see how his youngest would react upon seeing his face. He had been gone from home for a while and his son hadn’t seen what he looked like since before the explosion. He was afraid that Noah would start crying when Louis tried to hand him over, but was pleasantly surprised when the pup reached out towards him. 

The omega bent down to carefully transfer his baby over to a grinning Harry. It didn’t matter what the alpha looked like on the outside. Noah recognized—and was comforted by—his father’s scent, and that's all that mattered.

Later that night, the family sat around the dinner table and ate Harry’s favorite home cooked meal that his mother and Louis had prepared. They considered it a welcome home and birthday dinner since the alpha hadn’t wanted to celebrate the occasion while in the hospital. Afterwards, he spent more time with his family in the living room until it was time for the kids to go to bed. 

The pups begged their mother to allow them to stay up longer with their father, but Louis assured them that Harry would be there when they woke up and that the alpha also needed to get some rest of his own. Harry would be taking over the downstairs guest room where his mother had been sleeping since it would be difficult for him to go up and down the stairs. 

He felt bad taking his mother's room, but she waved off his concerns, telling him not to worry about it since it was her last night with them. 

He stayed by himself on the sofa—watching TV—while his mother and his mate got the children ready for bed, but eventually had to get up to use the restroom. He had almost made it to his destination when he heard a single bark followed by an unexpected push to his lower back, causing him to lose his balance and tumble to the floor. 

He didn’t catch himself in time and the injured side of his face made a hard impact against the wooden floor. “Motherfucker,” he groaned out, squeezing his eyes shut when it felt like a massive headache was starting to bloom inside of his skull.

He let out a string of swears and rolled onto his back, popping open one eye to find the culprit. It didn’t take him very long to find the offender, who had started to lick his face. “Peanut, what the hell.” The alpha blocked the American Pitbull Terrier from further slobbering over him and uncrossed his arms from his face once the dog had left him alone. 

He quietly lay in his spot on the floor for several minutes, contemplating his life choices and trying extremely hard not to think about the side of his face that was throbbing like the beat of a heart.

  
  
  
*** 

Louis had noticed a change in Harry’s mood ever since the alpha had arrived home from the hospital. His smile never reached his eyes and he didn’t talk as often as he used to. He tended to keep to himself and hardly ever touched Louis. The only contact the omega would receive from his mate was a gentle squeeze to his shoulders and a quick peck to his temple.

It became awkward between the mated pair when Louis asked Harry if he could join him in the guest room only for the alpha to reject his offer. Harry had pulled some lame excuse out of his ass saying that he didn’t want Louis to accidentally hurt his leg. The only problem with that excuse was that the alpha’s right leg was injured and Louis slept on the left side of the bed. 

Louis even offered to sleep on an air mattress in the room to see what excuse his husband would come up with, but the alpha had told him that he would feel guilty if the omega went through all of that trouble. Harry clearly didn’t want Louis to sleep in the same room as him for whatever reason, so he let it go. 

Louis stayed up late the same night Harry had his cast taken off to see if the alpha would join him in their upstairs bedroom. The omega had fallen asleep before he could witness Harry walking in, but he was pleasantly surprised to find his mate in bed with him the next morning. Harry wasn’t touching him but at least he was there.

Harry spent the next couple of weeks going to doctor's appointments for his burns and Veterans Affairs appointments for the military. He was being medically retired from the Air Force and would receive a hundred percent disability, which bummed him out a bit because he never would have thought that his 14 year military career would end this way. There was nothing that he could do to change the past though, so he had to learn to deal with the harsh reality of the situation.

The alpha became more closed off from his family as the days flew by which put Louis on edge. Since Harry didn’t have to go to work anymore, he eagerly offered to take up the responsibility of driving the kids to and from school everyday. Louis suspected that it was an excuse for the alpha to get out of the house—and away from him.

Louis tried to ask Harry multiple times what was bothering him and if there was anything that he could do to help, but the alpha always told him that he was doing just _fine_ and would quickly change the subject. The omega had asked Tyrell and even Harry’s parents to talk to the alpha and see if they could get through to him, but it appeared that no progress was being made. 

However, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse one particularly stormy night. It was around two in the morning when Noah’s cries had woken up the sleeping couple. Louis groaned and tiredly reached for the baby monitor on the bedside table. He was spooked by the booming clap of thunder followed by a bright flash of lightning that could be seen through the window blinds.

“I got him,” Louis yawned out, removing the warm, soft covers from his body. 

“No, I’ll get him,” Harry said, already up and pulling on a discarded t-shirt. 

“You sure?” Louis questioned, slightly jolting in his spot at the unexpected noise of the thunder. 

“Yeah. Go back to bed sweetheart.” 

Louis nodded his head and lay back down, waiting for the sound of Noah’s cries to die down.

Harry walked down the hall and into Noah’s nursery, lightly pushing the ajar door all the way open. The infant’s cries immediately softened once the familiar scent of his father filled the room. Harry gently cooed at Noah when the pup let out a whimper at the bright flash of lightning and made his way over to the crib. “It’s okay, Noah. You don’t have to be afraid. Daddy’s here.” The room was blanketed in darkness, but Harry could see Noah reaching his arms up for him to be held.

The alpha smiled and went to reach for his son when the right side of his face became visible by the lightning from outside. The sudden crack of thunder accompanied by the blinding flash of light illuminating the alpha’s scarred face had the young omega’s breath stopping for a split second with his face twisted in terror before he choked out a cry that turned into a blood-curdling wail.

Harry jerked back in shock as if he had been shot and hurriedly stumbled his way out of the room. Louis was already sitting up in bed with concern written across his face when Harry came back into the room. “What happened? Is everything alright?” 

Harry had a far off look in his eyes and silently shook his head, pointing towards the door.

The omega was spurred into action by the chilling sounds of his child’s wails and immediately got up, threw on his white silk robe, and made his way to the nursery. Louis picked up the crying pup and rocked him back into a deep slumber, singing the upset infant a lullaby to put him at ease. 

Once Noah had been taken care of Louis made his way back to his bedroom and abruptly stopped in the entrance, staring at the hunched over figure of his alpha. Harry wasn’t moving from where he had sat on the edge of the bed with his face buried in his large hands. Louis moved to kneel down in front of his mate and placed a gentle hand on his knee. 

“Alpha, do you want to tell me what happened?” 

Harry lifted his face from his hands and looked at his omega with red, troubled eyes. “I scared him, Lou. I scared our son with my face,” Harry mumbled. The alpha shook his head in shame and buried his face back into his hands. “I was afraid that this would happen. My worst nightmare just came true.”

Louis tried to be reassuring with his words. “Oh Alpha, he was just scared because of the bad weather. That’s all. It had nothing to do with you.”

Harry shook his head and looked back up at Louis with broken eyes. “You didn’t see the look of pure terror on his face when I went to pick him up.” The omega rubbed comforting circles into his mate's knee, patiently listening to see what he had to say. 

“You didn’t see the look of horror reflecting back in his eyes when he saw my face. You weren’t there to see it, Omega.” The alpha lowered his head and harshly tugged at the hairs on his scalp. “But I did.”

  
  
  
***

Harry realized that things weren’t alright with his mental health once he began to notice that the four main emotions he would feel throughout the day were anger, sadness, shame, and loneliness. There didn’t have to be an external influence behind why he felt these emotions, they were just on a constant sinister cycle, taking turns beating and stomping down on his fragile psyche; slowly driving him insane.

He had been feeling this way ever since he had awakened from his medically induced coma and at the time figured that the negative emotions plaguing his mind were mostly brought on by a combination between his head injury and high doses of pain medication. 

But after his fractured skull had healed and he no longer needed to be pumped full with massive amounts of legal drugs he found that, emotionally, he still felt like shit.

Over the weeks the alpha would distance himself from his family, but especially Louis. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to touch, talk to, or be near his omega. It was because he didn’t want Louis to have to endure looking at his face for long periods of time or feel obligated to spend time with him out of pity. 

Harry hadn’t planned on sleeping in his bedroom with Louis, but the omega had looked so small and unsure when he had asked to stay with him in the guestroom. Of course, the alpha had told his mate no, like an asshole, and tried to turn a blind eye to how dead Louis looked every morning. 

His inner alpha raged unceasingly night after night, hammering against his chest at being kept away from his omega. He had told himself that he was doing Louis a favor in the end but his alpha didn’t give one iota of a fuck. His alpha wanted to be as close to his mate as possible—preferably buried deep within the omega’s body—especially after being separated from each other for so long.

After Harry’s leg had healed and he was able to move up and down the stairs he moved back into his and Louis' bedroom. He had made a promise to Louis that he would, and he wouldn’t break another one of those again if he could help it. 

Harry didn’t hold his omega at night like he used to though, and he could see that his lack of physical affection was having a negative impact on Louis. 

Harry had noticed recently that Louis would start to randomly burst into tremors throughout the day. He had asked in concern if the omega was feeling okay and told him that he should really go to the doctor to get that checked out. Louis had hesitated before he told Harry that it was due to his omega feeling rejected, but that he had been taking prescribed medication to lessen the tremors.

The alpha had dumbly breathed out an, “Oh,” in response and walked off, clenching his fists into a tight ball and trying to hold back his shout of frustration. He thought he'd been protecting his omega but he was only hurting him more in the end. 

He figured that he would have to start doing more than just giving Louis brief temple kisses and unaffectionate shoulder squeezes, but he wasn’t ready to go further than that. Something was holding him back from giving his omega the love that he knew he deserved, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it was.

After that stormy night involving the incident with Noah, Harry almost completely closed himself off from his family and friends. He rarely answered his parents calls and would only stay on the phone with Tyrell for about five minutes before cutting the call short, making an excuse that he had laundry or dishes to do. 

He still slept in the same bed as Louis, but he didn’t eat his meals with his family, nor did he spend as much quality time with them as he used to.

He busied himself with working out to release all of his pent up rage that he had accumulated, and spent most of his time sitting alone out on the back porch with his only company being either Ginger, Cocoa, or Peanut. 

The alpha had forgiven the tan canine for making him fall, needing the silent comfort that the dog provided. Peanut was a rambunctious five-year-old rescue—that had been named by the children due to his color—and hadn’t yet been trained to be a service dog like Ginger and Cocoa. 

However, Harry liked having him around because he managed to put a rare smile on the alpha’s face with his energy. Ginger and Cocoa were rescue dogs, but the ladies were older than Peanut—the German Shepherd being ten and the Labrador Retriever eight—and didn’t bother with joining in with Peanut’s mischievous antics.

Harry knew that spending most of his time alone and keeping all of his emotions to himself wasn’t healthy, but he didn’t want to be a burden and dump his emotional baggage onto some poor soul. He thought that he would be able to handle how he was feeling on his own, but quickly came to the realization that he was a sinking ship of sadness.

One particular night before bed he stared at his reflection with hatred in the bathroom mirror. He usually tried his hardest to avoid mirrors or anything that would give him even a sliver of a glimpse of his disfigured appearance, but for some reason he decided to be brave that night and face his fears head on. The strange thing about the situation was that he became increasingly angrier the longer he stared at himself.

His knuckles had turned white from how hard he was gripping the marble countertop and he had to tear his eyes away from the mirror, putting his head down and counting to ten to cool himself off. 

When he glanced back up it was like an enraged bull had been let loose and he delivered a single punch to his reflection. The mirror didn’t shatter into millions of tiny little pieces like he wanted it to and that pissed him off, so he pulled his arm back and started to deliver blow after satisfying blow to the glass.

Louis had run into the bathroom after hearing all of the commotion and shouted for Harry to stop, “Alpha, stop it! Please, stop! You’re hurting yourself! Harry!” Louis grabbed onto Harry’s bulging bicep in a futile attempt to halt his infuriated mate from moving on to the second mirror in the bathroom, but was roughly shaken off. 

Louis helplessly stood back and watched in horror as his husband beat at the mirror until the majority of the broken pieces had fallen off and shattered to the floor.

Blood covered the countertop, sink, walls, floor, and what was left of the damaged mirror in the aftermath of Harry’s wrath. His bare chest pumped up and down in a fast rhythm, adrenaline running throughout his body. He flexed his hands twice and didn’t seem to be fazed by the crimson liquid dripping from his injured knuckles. 

“H-Harry,” Louis shakily whispered, and took a step back in fear when Harry’s eyes landed on him. 

The alpha’s pupils had dilated to a point that no green could be seen and the whites of his eyes had turned an angry shade of red. Harry took a deep breath in and calmly closed his eyes before he abruptly snapped them open and aggressively shoulder checked Louis on his way out of the bathroom door.

Harry didn’t feel the burning sting from the frigid air when he walked outside into the freezing snow, barefoot and with no shirt on, trying to calm himself down. The backyard was eerily quiet at this time of night, devoid of the loud barks followed by childish laughter that it so often heard. 

He looked over to the upper left side of the house and took note of the light that was still on in the bathroom that he had wreaked havoc in, feeling sick to his core at what he had done. He didn't know if it was due to the low temperature or from his adrenaline wearing off, but it had started to become increasingly difficult for him to work air into his lungs. 

He bent over with bloodied hands resting heavily on his unclothed knees and tried to take deep, steady breaths through his nose and out through his mouth. Black gradually bled into his once clear vision and his enhanced hearing became muddled as if he was submerged underwater. 

He shook his head to clear his deteriorating senses and stumbled his way to the snowy steps of the back porch, collapsing on the third step. The lack of proper clothing caused his backside to quickly become numb on the cold wooden surface and he buried his head deep into his hands, desperately fighting the urge to rage scream into the desolate night. 

Harry decided to head back inside after thirty minutes had passed with him nearly pulling the hair from his scalp with how hard he kept incesstantly tugging at it. He went in search of the first aid kit and clumsily stitched the split flesh of his knuckles back together with shaky hands. 

When he returned to the bathroom he found Louis on his knees trying to vigorously scrub away the blood with bleach from in between the grout of the tiles. The omega had bitten his bottom lip to try and stifle his sobs, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand and sniffling every five seconds. 

Louis looked up with puffy, red rimmed eyes once he noticed his alpha standing in the doorway. Nervous, blues locked onto tired, greens for what felt like an eternity before the omega lifted his arms up in a, “what the hell?” gesture, looking around the disarrayed room. 

Louis could see that his mate wasn’t going to say anything, so he shook his head in disbelief—an ugly sob escaping his body—and continued with his scrubbing. Harry silently stood in the doorway and guiltily watched his shaken spouse clean the bathroom for the next fifteen minutes before he sighed and went to lie in bed. 

Louis didn’t make it to bed until one in morning, slowly pulling the covers back on his side, cautiously lying down. The alpha was on his back and his eyes were wide open, staring up at the ceiling. He fought the urge to fidget when he felt his omega’s gaze burn a hole into the side of his face. He squeezed his own eyes shut so tightly that it hurt when he heard Louis softly whisper, “I love you.” 

The atmosphere in the dark and silent bedroom was uncomfortable and the feeling of uncertainty that lingered heavily in the air ominously flowed its way through their bond, causing the couple to restlessly shift about. Several minutes had passed since Louis' quiet declaration of love before the dejected omega turned away from his unresponsive mate, taking the hurtful hint that he wasn't going to receive a reply in return. 

  
  
  
***

  
  


Harry didn’t truly think that he needed help until he overheard Louis and his daughters talking in Claire and Lauryn’s bedroom on his way downstairs. He stopped just outside of the slightly open door, safely hidden in the darkness of the shadows, and used his alpha hearing to listen in on their quiet conversation. 

“Mommy, is Daddy going to be okay?” Heather nervously questioned her mother, pushing her purple glasses up the bridge of her nose. 

Louis was sat with Claire on her twin size bed, brushing her long and wavy locks with a soft brush. The rest of his daughters were in child size bean bags placed in front of the bed, watching as he gently brushed their sister's hair.

“What do you mean, sweetheart?”

Heather anxiously shifted in her seat, not sure if she should tell her mother what she'd seen. “Well, I saw Daddy sitting on the back porch by himself and I was going to sit with him so that he didn’t have to be alone.” 

Louis nodded his head in encouragement for her to keep going.

“And when I opened the door to go outside I saw him crying.” She nervously played with her fingers before continuing on, “I got scared because I had never seen Daddy cry before. I didn’t know what I should do so I left him all alone, and now I feel bad.”

Louis looked at his pup with sympathetic eyes. “It’s alright, Heather. Please don’t feel bad. You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

Lauryn piped up from her spot in the pink bean bag and asked, “Does Daddy hate us?” 

The omega was taken aback by the question and set the brush down on the bed next to him. “Of course not, my love. Why would you think that?”

Claire picked at a loose string on her pajamas and mumbled, “Because he doesn’t eat with us anymore and he doesn’t spend time with us like he used to.”

"Yeah, daddy no read me bedtime story no more," Grace interjected with a pout, crossing her short arms. 

Louis sighed and patted the bed for the rest of his girls to join him. He scooted back against the pillows and pulled Grace into his lap with Claire sitting in front of him, Lauryn on one side and Heather on the other.

“Your father is going through a difficult time right now. He’s trying to work through some personal things and he needs to be by himself for a bit. But that does _not_ mean that he hates you or doesn’t love you.” Louis looked into each of his daughters' eyes to ensure that they understood his words. “He loves you all so much and you guys are doing an amazing job at showing him how much you love him as well.”

“Is there anything that we can do to help?” Claire asked with wide eyes. 

“Just keep on doing what you’re doing. He might not always show it, but it means a lot to him when you give him hugs and kisses.” Louis softly smiled at his daughters. “And don’t stop telling him that you love him. It might not seem like much, but you’ll help him out more than you know by doing those simple things.”

“I tell Daddy I love him and give him lots of cuddles and kisses!” Grace exclaimed, throwing her arms out wide. 

Louis chuckled and kissed the crown of his toddler’s head. “That’s right, precious.” 

Harry shook his head and moved away from the door, continuing to make his way downstairs. Overhearing their conversation really put things into perspective on just how bad he had made things for his family. 

He had stopped eating with them because he didn’t want them to lose their appetites when they looked at his face, and he kept to himself because he didn't want to scare his mate or his pups with his roller coaster of emotions.

The alpha knew that his family didn’t deserve to live in a household where they were constantly walking on pins and needles around him. He was fortunate enough to be a part of a very loving, patient, and forgiving family. Being the only alpha in a house full of omegas also helped with balancing him out whenever he became too hot-headed.

It had now been two days since Harry had overheard the conversation between Louis and their daughters. He was sitting alone out on the screened in back porch, taking in the way the snow flurried around in the air, when Louis opened and peeked his head through the door.

“Care for some company?” Louis grinned, sharp omega canines in full view. “I brought hot chocolate with me.” 

Harry looked at his omega and smiled. “Well, in that case come and keep me company,” he said with a pat to the sofa cushion next to him. 

Louis slowly pushed open the door with his shoulder and shut it behind him with his foot. Harry stood up to take one of the marshmallow-shaped mugs from his smiling spouse and carefully sat down so that he didn’t spill any on him. “Careful, it’s hot,” Louis warned, and giggled when Harry cursed after taking too big of a sip. “I told you.”

The alpha stuck his tongue out and looked down at it as best he could to check for any damage. “Damn, that shit’s hot. I guess that’s why they call it hot chocolate huh?” Louis nodded his head with a laugh and took a tentative sip from his own mug. “Is it extra hot because you made it?” Harry questioned with a wink to his mate. 

Louis huffed out a small laugh and shook his head at his husband’s comment. “Yeah, that’s why.” 

The couple sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, slowly sipping at their chocolatey beverages while gazing at the falling snow, simply enjoying each other’s presence. 

Louis glanced at Harry and noted how relaxed, yet drained, he appeared to be. “What were you doing out here?” 

The alpha slightly startled, having been broken out of his deep thoughts by the unexpected question. “Just thinking. I know I seem to do that a lot these days,” he mumbled, looking down at the mug clutched in his large hands.

“It’s alright. I don’t mind. I know that these past few weeks haven’t been the easiest on you,” Louis softly reassured. 

Harry took a deep breath and lifted his head to look into Louis’ eyes. “I’ve been a shit alpha.” He shook his head when he saw that Louis was about to interrupt him. “I have and you know it. Don’t try and deny it, Omega.”

Louis kept his mouth shut and patiently listened to what Harry had to say. 

“As an alpha it’s my job to make sure that my family always feels loved and protected. But I’ve been failing at both of those things.” Harry glanced away from Louis to look at the snow covered patio in front of him. “I thought that I could successfully sort out the clusterfuck that’s been raging on inside of my head, but obviously I haven't been doing too good of a job at handling it.”

The alpha looked back at his omega and tried hard not to laugh at the whipped cream layered across his upper lip. They were having a serious conversation, dammit. “That’s why I decided to make an appointment to see a therapist this Friday.” 

Louis’ eyes widened and he leaned slightly forward to place a gentle hand on his mate’s thigh. “Harry, that’s amazing! I’m so proud of you! I hope you know that you’re taking a step in the right direction.” 

Harry nodded and reached a thumb out to wipe away the whipped cream from Louis' thin upper lip, causing the omega's cheeks to color a soft pink in embarrassment. “I know. I’m just so _tired._ So fuckin' tired of feeling this way,” he gritted out, brows pulling tightly together in a hard frown.

“And I'm sorry for being such a dick to you. I shouldn’t have treated you the way that I did.” He looked at Louis with remorseful eyes. "Do you think you can find it in that beautiful, loving heart of yours to forgive your big dumb alpha?"

The omega tilted his head slightly to the side with a cute quirk to his lips, pretending like he actually had to ponder over his husband’s question. “Hmm, let me think.” He tapped his index finger against his chin in mock thought before letting a warm smile overtake his face. “Yeah, I forgive you." 

Louis got up to place his half empty mug on a nearby table and sat back down, body pressed closely against his mate. 

“I want to be a better husband and mate to you, and a better father to my pups. Hell, I even want to be a better dog dad.” Louis' giggle brought a small smile to the alpha's face. “I thought that I was feeling this way because of how I looked, but after doing some soul searching I discovered that it runs much, _much_ deeper than that.”

Louis took the marshmallow-shaped mug from his husband and set it next to his own on the table, before grabbing onto both of the alpha’s warm, large hands. 

“It might take me some time to fully get back to the old me. If he ever returns,” he quietly stated, squeezing his omega’s small, soft hands. “But at least I still have my charmingly good looks, right?” He huffed out a humorless laugh.

Harry watched with wide eyes as Louis slowly moved to place himself in his lap, wrapping his slim arms around his neck. “I never stopped thinking that you were handsome, Alpha.” 

Harry slipped his hands up underneath Louis' shirt and delighted at the shiver it evoked from the omega. They hadn’t been this close to each other since before Harry’s deployment, and the physical contact was very much appreciated by both parties. 

“Oh, really? The whole _Beauty and the Beast_ thing going on with my face doesn’t turn you off?” Harry had a hard time believing that his spouse was still even remotely attracted to him, but the way that the omega’s scent had started to sweeten with arousal told a different story.

“Stop putting yourself down like that. Doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I find you attractive. Isn’t that what truly matters?” Louis had started to pepper kisses all over his mate’s face, even the scarred side which had Harry letting out a shiver of his own at the contact. 

“Yeah, baby. You’re right. That’s all that truly matters.”

Louis stopped his affectionate kisses and pulled back to place gentle hands on either side of his husband’s face. “I want you to know that no matter what happens I’m going to be with you every step of the way. I’m not going to let you go through this journey alone.”

He delivered a soft peck to the tip of Harry's nose. “We made a commitment to always stick together, no matter what obstacles life decides to put in our way. For better or worse. In sickness and in health.” 

Harry cut Louis off, leaning forward to firmly press his lips against his mate's and whispered, “Till death do us part.”

“Till death do us part,” Louis quietly repeated, leaning back in to properly kiss his husband. Harry tugged his omega’s lithe body close to his as they passionately made out on the sofa. They pulled back from their embrace with harsh breaths, resting their foreheads against one another’s.

“God, you make me feel like the luckiest alpha in the entire world.”

“And you make me feel like the luckiest omega in the entire world.” Louis smiled, leaning back in to press a swift peck to Harry’s lips. 

“I love you, Lou. I truly do.”

“I love you too, H.” 

  
  
  
***  
  
  
  


“Ninety-eight . . . ninety-nine . . . one hundred!” Heather threw her arms up in a cheer from her place on her father’s back. Harry gradually lowered himself to the ground, not feeling tired in the least despite doing a hundred-straight push-ups with his daughter perched on his back.

“Me next, Daddy!” Grace exclaimed, excitedly bouncing up and down from her spot in front of her father’s face. 

“Alright princess, climb on.” Harry waited for his three-year-old to drape herself across his back, making sure that she had a secure hold on his shirt, and started up another round of push-ups.

Louis walked into the living room with a babbling Noah in his arms just as his mate finished with the exercise. “Alpha, you know you shouldn’t be doing that. Your back is already bad as it is.” The omega gently placed the talkative pup in his arms onto the ground and watched him immediately crawl towards his father.

“It’s fine, Omega. They’re light as a feather. Can hardly tell that they're there.” Harry sat up after Grace had slid off his back, and reached forward to pick up the one-year-old crawling his way. 

“Alright, well don’t say that I never warned you when your back starts acting up again.”

Harry grinned, flashing his alpha canines towards his mate in response, before turning his attention back towards the energetic pup in his arms. 

Louis sat next to Harry on the floor and silently watched his husband and son converse with each other. It was mainly Noah speaking gibberish baby talk and Harry replying in one word responses, but the omega still found it an endearing sight to witness.

It had been six months since Harry’s accident and positive changes had been made during that time. The alpha opened up more with Louis when it came to talking about his feelings and he gradually started spending more time with his family. He'd had to go through four different therapists before he finally found one that he felt was truly there to help him get better, and that he'd immediately connected with off the bat.

Harry didn’t instantly change overnight and it took him attending many therapy sessions for things to start looking up. He still wasn’t completely comfortable with going out in public and he had never stopped feeling insecure about his looks, but his twice-weekly therapy sessions along with the unconditional love and support from his family had had a massive impact on his recovery process. 

The alpha no longer feared eating meals with his family, and he wasn’t afraid to be around and interact with his son. The incident with Noah had just about killed him on the inside, and he'd avoided being near his pup for a long time. He had cried when he told his therapist about what had happened that night and how awful it had made him feel.

He didn’t blame Noah for reacting the way that he did. Sometimes Harry would scare himself with his own reflection. Eventually, he had faced one of his biggest fears after he'd gotten some much needed advice from his therapist, and started to interact more with his son. 

He wanted Noah to get used to his appearance and found that he'd had nothing to fear in the first place. Noah didn’t cry for his mother whenever Louis handed him over to Harry, and he didn’t wail in terror at the sight of his father’s face when Harry had checked on him one night during another storm.

The alpha’s daughters were also ecstatic to have their father start spending more time with them again and they never ceased with their hugs and kisses, wanting him to know that they would never stop loving him. 

His relationship with Louis had greatly improved as well. Louis' tremors had stopped and he'd started to look well-rested and healthy after receiving more affection from his mate. Their rekindled sex life had been sort of awkward in the beginning stages and they'd had to talk through a few things, especially after one particular incident.

Harry had been lying on his back across the gray ottoman that was placed at the foot of the bed, observing Louis gracefully move about their walk-in closet. The omega slid off his fluffy purple bathrobe, exposing planes of smooth, tan skin to Harry’s possessive eyes only, before slipping on a red satin pajama set.

Louis exited the closet and stopped in front of his alpha, nimbly tying the strings on his shorts. Harry hungrily eyed the sweet smelling omega in front of him, wishing that he was buried right between those beautiful, thick thighs. “I was thinking,” Louis started, lowering himself onto his knees in front of the ottoman. “That maybe we could go a little further tonight.” He coyly blinked up at his husband. “If you’re comfortable with it.”

Lately, their sexual activities had solely consisted of Louis sucking Harry’s dick or Harry fingering and rimming Louis, but that was as far as it went between the pair. They were both yearning to go further and the omega had thought that it would be a good night to do so.

“Are you sure, Omega?” Harry slowly moved into a sitting position, looking down at the nodding omega in front of him. 

“Yeah, I’m sure.” 

The alpha smiled at the eagerness in his mate’s voice and gestured for him to come closer with a crook of his finger. “Well then get over here.”

Louis laughed and happily moved himself between Harry’s open legs. The alpha had on tight black briefs which left nothing to the imagination. He was already half hard—the sight and smell of Louis alone could get him off—and groaned low in his throat when his mate mouthed hotly at the outline of his cock.

“Mmm, this is probably my favorite thing about you,” Louis said, rubbing a hand up and down Harry’s fattening cock through his shorts. 

“Wow, and here I was telling myself that you loved me for more than just my body.” 

The omega chuckled and buried his nose into his husband’s groin, taking a deep inhale. “Love the way you smell. Gets me wet every time.” Louis closed his eyes and let out a soft moan at the feel of Harry’s hands in his hair. 

“That’s nice, baby. But are you going to suck my dick or keep sniffing my nuts the entire night?” He winced at the hard pinch Louis delivered to the inner flesh of his left thigh. 

Louis was about to pull Harry’s cock out of his briefs when a small knock was delivered to the bedroom door. The couple silently groaned, knowing that it was one of their daughters. 

“Mommy?” Grace softly questioned. 

“Stay quiet and maybe she’ll leave,” Harry whispered to his unamused omega. 

“No, I’m not going to do that.” Louis was about to get up from his knees to check on his pup when he heard her small voice come through the opening at the bottom of the door. 

“Mommy, are you praying?”

Harry slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from honking out a laugh and Louis gasped in surprise, quickly moving off of his knees. He briskly walked over to the door and layed down on his stomach, peeking at his toddler through the opening. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

“I had a bad dream.”

“You did?”

Louis could see the nod of her head against the wooden floor and moved off of his stomach to open the door. “Alright then, let’s get you back to bed.” He bent down to lift her into his arms, sending an apologetic look Harry’s way before disappearing out the door. 

The omega came back into the bedroom fifteen minutes later and huffed out a sigh, resting his back against the closed door before locking it. He stopped in his tracks when he turned around and stared at his husband on the bed.

“Uh, Alpha? Is everything okay?” he asked, taking cautious steps towards the bed. 

Harry looked around himself and shrugged as if there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Why?”

The omega wasn’t sure if his alpha was joking or not, and decided to take the situation as seriously as he could just in case. “If everything’s fine then why is there a paper bag over your head?”

There was a smiley face drawn on the front of the bag and Louis frowned at how creepy it looked. 

“I put this on so you won’t have to look at me while we have sex,” Harry stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Why would you think that I wouldn’t want to look at you?” 

“Uh, have you seen my face lately? Not exactly prince charming under here.”

“Harry, come on. I’m not having sex with you while a paper bag is over your head.” Louis crawled onto the bed and sat next to his mate, carefully removing the bag. “When we’re making love I want to look at you. Not whatever this is.” 

Harry sighed, taking the bag from his spouse's hands and tearing it in half, before putting it off to the side. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I just didn’t want you to get turned off from having to look at the mess on my face.”

Louis snuggled close to Harry and rested his head on his shoulder, running gentle fingers over the tattoo on his left pec. “I love the way you look, and I know that you’re still insecure about it, but just know that if it came down to having to look at you or the paper bag I would choose you.” 

“Missing ear and all?”

“Yeah, H. Missing ear and all.”

“You really mean that, Lou?”

“Every single word.”

Harry turned his head towards Louis’ to place a loving kiss against his lips. 

“And just an FYI, the paper bag is not only creepy but a _super_ turn off. Please _never_ do that again.”

“Noted.” 

  
  
  
***

  
  


Louis watched from his spot on the blanket as Harry worked to plant an assortment of flowers around the outskirts of the patio. It was a beautiful day in Sheridan and the whole family was outside in the backyard enjoying the nice weather. The black shirt that Harry wore clung tightly to his body, showcasing the impressive muscle definition of his back.

The omega bit onto his lower lip, greedily eyeing the way sweat had started to build up and slide down the nape of his mate’s neck. He reached into the picnic basket to pull out a cold bottle of water before making his way over to his husband.

“I brought you this.” Louis held out the bottle for Harry to take. “Thought you might want some.” 

Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm and took off his green gardening gloves. “Thank you, baby.” He reached for the water and took several gulps from the bottle until it was empty, letting out a soft burp before handing it back to Louis.

“It looks good so far. I like it,” Louis praised, giving an appreciative look at the colorful flowers.

“Yeah, it’s coming along nicely. It’ll really look good once I’m finished.” Harry tugged on his green gloves and went back to work. Louis silently watched his alpha as he planted the flowers, noting how Harry’s face had turned a bright shade of red from a combination of the sun and the physical exertion.

The right side of Harry’s face was on full display for the omega to see and Louis still found the alpha attractive despite his disfigured appearance. 

Harry’s physical features were only a small reason why the omega had fallen in love with him and he knew that everyone’s looks would eventually fade over time. However, beauty was in the eye of the beholder and Louis thought that Harry was one of the most stunning human beings he had ever laid eyes on.

The alpha felt his mate’s stare on the side of his face and fought the uncomfortable urge to turn his head away in shame. He curiously peeked at his omega out of the corner of his eye and blew a stubborn strand of hair from his face. “What?”

Louis gently smiled, moving the loose curl out of his alpha’s way. “Nothing. You're just really beautiful.”

Harry huffed out a small laugh, glancing away from his mate to cover the hole surrounding one of the flowers with dirt. He looked back up at a smiling Louis once he was finished and squinted at him.

“Omega, do you have a crush on me?” 

Louis playfully rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. “Ha! You do have a crush on me. I knew it!” The alpha smirked and fixed his mate with a pointed look. “And I’m going to tell everyone I know about it.” 

Harry abruptly stood up and waved his arms in the air to gain his pups' attention. “Hey everyone, guess what? Your mother has a crush on me!” He delivered his announcement with a point to his omega who was hiding his face in his hands.

The couple laughed when a chorus of _"ew's"_ were heard in the distance.

“You’re ridiculous.” 

“Ridiculous for you.”

After Harry had finished planting the flowers he went into the house to wash up and joined his family in the backyard for a delicious picnic lunch Louis had prepared. He spent the majority of the afternoon playing with his children; chasing them around the yard and tossing them into the air. 

Louis watched his family with content from his spot on the blanket while Noah crawled all over his legs. Harry had dealt with a lot since his accident and he was still actively trying to work through his trauma. But to see him _finally_ look happy and relaxed after so long made Louis’ heart swell with pride and infinite amounts of love. 

Harry looked towards his mate when he felt the sudden rush of affection shoot through their bond and delivered a small, knowing smile to a blushing Louis. 

Everyone gathered back onto the blanket to rest once they had tired themselves out, lying down in a circle with their heads pointed towards the middle. 

Ginger, Cocoa, and Peanut had joined them as well, trotting over to lie down in what free space was available. Harry closed his eyes and sighed at the cool breeze blowing through the air, getting lost in the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind, body relaxing at the innocent, child-like giggles of his daughters. 

Grace was lying to his right and had a tight grip on his large pinky finger with her tiny hand. Louis lay directly across from Harry with closed eyes, Noah lightly squirming about on his chest as he rubbed soothing motions against the pup’s back. 

Harry softly smiled, looking around at the people who meant more to him than anything in the world. The people who he would easily lay his life down for in a heartbeat. 

The past six months hadn’t been easy on him or his family, but when the going got rough they were always there for him, patiently waiting in the light at the end of the dark tunnel with open arms and loving smiles. 

He wasn’t concerned about what uncertainties life or the future may bring. As long as he had his family to come home to at the end of the day—he'd be alright in the end.

  
  
  
***

  
  


_In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit._

—Marge Kennedy

**Author's Note:**

> Hooray! You've made it to the end! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read this fic! I hope that it was at least somewhat enjoyable for you to read! <3 
> 
> **First** , I would like to give a big shoutout to the **[BLFF Mods](https://bottomlouisficfest.tumblr.com/)** for putting together such a wonderful and well organized fic fest for the second year in a row. You've created such a fun, positive, and encouraging environment for everyone involved. The personal time and effort that you've dedicated to this fest to ensure that everything runs smoothly does not not go unnoticed! <3 
> 
> **Second** , I would like to give a massive shoutout to **[Hannah](https://twitter.com/softlouislove)** for being a super helpful and amazing beta! You've truly been a blessing during this whole process and I honestly can't thank you enough! I wouldn't have felt as comfortable putting this out if it wasn't for you! Also, thank you for the suggesting the lovely fic title! <3
> 
> **Last but certainly not least** , I would like to give a huge shoutout to **[Bene](https://twitter.com/youreyesonlarry?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)** for the gorgeous commissioned artwork to go with this fic! It gave me the much needed inspiration whenever I was feeling stuck. (In addition to being a talented artist, she's also a phenomenal writer and you should go check out her **[fics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youreyesonlarry)** if you haven't already. I promise you won't regret it!) <3
> 
> If you're still reading this, thank you again for giving this fic a chance, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of your day/night! :D  
> ****  
>  **Prompt 490:** Preferably ABO, established relationship, at least one small child and Harry as a soldier. L and H have a very happy, satisfying, full of love life, but H as a soldier is obviously away for some time occasionally and one day while on duty he experiences a horrible explosion which leaves him with massive burns, the worst one on his face (I was thinking Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda or the Phantom of the Opera, but on a bigger part of his face). I’d rather not have him disabled or losing memory, eventually just a short coma in the hospital. H is obviously not dealing with it well, he might be taking it out on L (not too much tho please, my heart won’t handle it), but L is being very loving and supportive anyway. In the end H is overcoming his accident and they’re back to being happy and perfect! There are two scenes that I would LOVE to see in that story. 1) If they have a few kids, I’d love to see the older ones being a little bit confused but in general very loving towards H. However, the youngest one has a nightmare and H comes to cheer them up but they’re very shaken and still not used to seeing their father this way so they get even more scared, angst follows. 2) Once H is feeling better, a small scene with him doing some chores and L is just looking at him and H is like ‘what’ and L says ‘nothing, you’re just really beautiful,’ fluff follows.


End file.
